Thai Ariways Ordered To Pay Bt100,000 Compensation To Indian Man

[george]

Indian consumer body orders THAI to pay damages

BANGKOK: -- Thai Airways International (THAI) has been ordered to pay Bt100,000 in compensation to an Indian man and his family who were told they could not board their return flight from Bangkok, because their tickets, bought from an agent, were not confirmed, the Press Trust of India reported from New Delhi.

"When a person goes on an excursion trip, he always plans the itinerary in such a manner that he does not face any inconvenience and thus makes sure that the tickets are confirmed," said Justice JD Kapoor, president of India's State Consumer Commission.

The report, dated last Friday, said Kapoor held the airline responsible for causing hardship to its passengers in an alien land.

The commission rejected THAI's contention its subagent had incorrectly termed the tickets "confirmed" and that the travellers had no direct dealings with it.

"Whenever airlines evolve the system of sale of tickets through their agents, the endorsement made by them on tickets as 'okay' or 'confirmed' is an endorsement made on behalf of the airlines, and the airline is liable directly as well as vicariously for every act of omission or commission of its agent or subagent," it said.

Shyam Sunder, a resident of Delhi, had gone on holiday to Bangkok with three family members in 1997.

He booked "confirmed" tickets from Delhi to Bangkok and back through a Delhi-based subagent.

But when he and his family were about to board the return flight from Bangkok, they were told by THAI officials that their tickets had not been confirmed. They had to buy fresh tickets after borrowing money from a friend.

--The Nation 2007-01-09

[Briggsy]

1997!!!

[britmaveric]

Shows how much indians are...... well thought of!!!

[chuchok]

Good job he got compensation.

[londonthai]

he could fly on the next flight - without buying the new ticket

[tropo]

Is there a need to confirm Thai Airways tickets? I always fly Thai Airways and have never phoned in to confirm them and assumed it was not necessary.

[ovenman]

Is there a need to confirm Thai Airways tickets?

There was back in 1997 when this incident took place. Must really pain THAI to have to pay compensation to anybody considering they never make any mistakes, or so they have told me.

[taxexile]

i have avoided thai airways ever since the mid nineties .

waiting in the boarding area at heathrow to board a flight to bangkok , a stuck up little tw#t of a thai airways flight attendant picked on an elderly indian man and screamed at him that he couldnt take his shoulder bag on board because it was the wrong size , the old man protested saying it was full of medication that he had just picked up in london where he had been for teatment and didnt want to put it in the luggage hold.

the attendant was ill mannered , aggressive and merciless , shouting and sneering at the poor man who was by now quite alarmed and confused.

other passengers tried to talk some sense into the attendant ,to no avail and the other thai airways staff just stood by their desk , looking on and laughing in that peculiarly thai way.

eventually the man removed enough medication for the trip , and the bag was taken away from him.

all in all it was a disgusting display by the thai staff , with a nasty undercurrent of racism running through the incident.

i wrote to london head office complaining about the public humiliation of one of their passengers , and i'm still waiting for a reply.

i for one , will never use the airline again.

Edited January 11, 2007 by taxexile

[percy2]

Is there a need to confirm Thai Airways tickets?

There was back in 1997 when this incident took place. Must really pain THAI to have to pay compensation to anybody considering they never make any mistakes, or so they have told me.

In '97 I was flying internationally about 1/week with Thai (generally) and never confirmed a ticket. Never had a problem either.

Cheers

[Prakanong]

I have been a Gold Card ROP for a number of years but now fly SG - I keep the Thai Gold Card for Lounge access as its easier to keep ie 2 years rather than 1 for Krisflyer

Thai though have made many mistakes with losing miles etc. They are never wrong though as someone pointed out above. This even when their Brussels office have copies of the faxes sent.

[Ijustwannateach]

One of the problems is that Thai airline jobs, Thai Airways especially, are viewed for some reason as plum sinecure jobs by the lower intelligence middling-higher-so nouveaux-riches types. These types tend to be spoiled and socially insecure/maladjusted- not suitable at all for what is supposed to be, after all, a service position.

"Steven"

[midas]

1997!!!

I worked and lived in Mumbai the mid-90s and even then

Indians told me it takes ten years to go through a legal process in the Indian courts

- so they were dead right !

When I saw this heading my immediate reaction was that I could never imagine in a million years

anyone getting this sort of justice in a Thai court

[OneeyedJohn]

He probably did well out of the Rupee / Baht exchange rate thoough. I was here in Jan/Feb getting 97 to the £ but 10 years is a long time to wait for satisfaction.

British Airways are no better in their arrogant treatment of dissatisfied customers. I flew here in 2001 and my wife and I had to sit in two economy seats that had no in flight entertainment at all, no lights, zilch,

Letters of complaint got replies but no compensation. I have had better times on Air India for sure.