Air India ordered to pay ₹1.36 lakh for delayed flight disrupting Kerala expat's Saudi trip

A consumer court has ordered Air India to pay 1.36 lakh rupees in compensation to a Malayali expatriate whose Saudi Arabia trip was disrupted by a flight delay in 2017. The ruling follows a nearly nine-year legal battle. Kapildev's Air India flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Mumbai was delayed by over two hours on September 10, 2017, causing him to miss his connecting flight to Saudi Arabia. He was forced to spend the night at Mumbai airport and buy a new ticket from another airline for about 49,000 rupees, with no assistance from Air India. The Thiruvananthapuram District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission ruled in favor of Kapildev, whose wife Shiji filed the complaint. The commission found Air India deficient in service, and the family also claimed a total financial loss of around 83,000 rupees including the unused ticket portion.