The matter of giving bad business class seats to Air India has become heavy. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has ordered the airline to refund the full amount of the business class ticket to the 73-year-old senior citizen. Along with this, compensation of Rs 20 lakh and litigation expenses will also have to be paid. The Commission acknowledged that providing a bad seat on a long haul international flight is a serious deficiency in service to the consumer.
What was the whole matter?
Retired Justice Rajesh Chandra, resident of Meerut (Uttar Pradesh), and his wife had earlier purchased economy class tickets to travel from New Delhi to San Francisco. The price of both the tickets was around Rs 1.80 lakh per person. However, Justice Chandra was suffering from cervical spondylitis and sciatica since 1978. Considering his health, he got both the tickets upgraded to business class and for this he paid an additional Rs 1.23 lakh per ticket.
While returning from San Francisco to Delhi on 22 September 2022, he was allotted business class seat number 08D. After the flight started, he came to know that the seat was faulty and was not reclining backwards. He immediately informed the cabin crew about this, but even after several attempts the seat could not be repaired.
Didn’t even get another seat
Justice Chandra requested for another seat, but the cabin crew informed that there were no seats vacant in both business and first class. In such a situation, he had to travel the entire journey of about 15 hours on a bad seat. He said that due to this his already existing health problem got worse.
After reaching Delhi, he had to get treatment from an orthopedic specialist. Along with medicines, he also had to take bed rest and physiotherapy.
Reached Consumer Commission after complaint
The passenger first lodged a complaint with the Public Grievance Cell of the Cabinet Secretariat and then with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, but no solution was found. After this he approached the Uttar Pradesh State Consumer Commission.
On January 16, 2024, the State Commission ordered Air India to return the entire ticket amount, pay Rs 20 lakh compensation and Rs 20,000 as litigation expenses. Air India appealed against this decision to the National Commission, while Justice Chandra demanded more compensation.
NCDRC upheld the decision
On June 12, 2026, NCDRC upheld the decision of Uttar Pradesh State Commission. The Commission said that despite charging extra fare for business class, Air India did not provide the basic facilities of that class to the passengers. Providing a bad and non-reclining seat on a long international flight is clearly a lack of service.
The commission also said that the compensation of Rs 20 lakh given under the Consumer Protection Act is appropriate and commensurate with the circumstances. Therefore, neither the compensation amount was increased nor the appeal of Air India was accepted. Rejecting both the appeals, the Commission upheld the order of the State Consumer Commission.
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