Air France has been ordered by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 60,000 as compensation to a 73-year-old woman for misplacing her luggage during her trip from New York to Delhi and returning it to her a week later in damaged condition.

The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered the payment saying that complainant Ranjit Kaur Pannu must be compensated for all the troubles she faced in getting back her lost baggage with her husband forced to visit Delhi twice from Chandigarh for it.

“Anxiety and uncertainty faced by complainant and her family can only be imagined. She had no clue about the goods which were not delivered for about a week. This is the real part of the harassment for which opposite party (Air France) alone is responsible...

“Her husband had to travel from Chandigarh to Delhi and back to collect the baggage and then had to repeat the trip all over again to show the damage to the luggage... the said torture to the family members has arisen directly from the imperfection of the services on the part of the airline,” said the Bench presided by C.K. Chaturvedi.

In her complaint, Chandigarh resident Ranjit Kaur had said she had travelled from New York to Delhi via Paris on January 7, 2004 and on arrival here she found that her luggage had not reached with her.

A week later she was told by the airline that her luggage had arrived and was asked to collect it from the customs office within three days or else, it would be auctioned off, she had said.

As she was bedridden, her husband had to travel to Delhi to collect the luggage and after getting it back, she found that it was damaged and several articles were missing from it.

The airline in its defence had contended that damages can be awarded only for the weight of the articles missing, from the luggage as per the rules of Carriage Air Act, 1972.

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