SpiceJet delay left family without connecting flight, forcing fresh tickets, extra travel and hotel expenses, airline ordered to pay Rs 85,816

A senior citizen from Patna has won a five year legal battle against SpiceJet after repeated flight delays cost his family a connecting flight, a hotel booking and thousands of rupees in extra expenses. The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission in Patna has now ordered the airline to pay a total of Rs 85,816, along with interest, after finding it deficient in service.

The complainant, Dilip Kumar Agarwal, had booked three tickets from Patna to Mangalore via Mumbai in January 2021, paying a combined fare of Rs 18,697 for a trip tied to his son's medical counselling. The Patna to Mumbai leg kept getting delayed, and by the time the family reached Mumbai, their connecting flight to Mangalore had already left without them.

What went wrong on the SpiceJet flight

According to the complaint, the family reached Patna airport on time and had their boarding passes ready, but the flight itself was delayed again and again. No food or refreshments were offered during the long wait, something the commission flagged as a direct violation of the obligations airlines carry under DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirements. With no onward flight to Mangalore left to catch, the family had to arrange their own way forward, booking a Mumbai hotel overnight, paying for local transport, and buying fresh tickets on GoAir to finish the journey. They also lost the advance they had paid for a hotel booking already made in Mangalore.

Why did SpiceJet say it was not liable
SpiceJet's defence rested on bad weather in Delhi, which the airline said was beyond its control, along with Terms of Carriage that it argued exempted it from liability in such situations. It also pointed to DGCA rules that free airlines from paying compensation for delays caused by weather. The airline said a refund for the unused Mumbai to Mangalore leg had already gone through the travel agent, and called the complainant's claim exaggerated.

Can an airline blame bad weather and walk away
Only if it can back that claim up. The commission noted that SpiceJet did not send any representative for the final hearing and, more importantly, never produced an official letter or any document showing the delay was actually caused by weather. Without that proof on record, the weather defence did not hold, and the commission went ahead and ruled on the complainant's evidence alone.

What can a passenger claim after missing a connecting flight
This case lays out a fairly standard template for such claims. The commission looked at documentary proof of hotel bills, transport costs, the fresh GoAir tickets and the lost hotel advance in Mangalore, and accepted all of it as genuine loss directly caused by the airline's failure to arrange an alternate flight. The original refund of Rs 4,389 was found inadequate against actual expenses of Rs 20,205, leaving a shortfall of Rs 15,816 that the airline was told to make good.

How much has SpiceJet been told to pay
The final order adds up to Rs 85,816 in all. That includes Rs 15,816 towards travel and hotel expenses, Rs 50,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment, and Rs 20,000 towards litigation costs. On top of that, the Rs 15,816 component carries 12 percent annual interest running from the date the complaint was filed in April 2021, which keeps adding to the final amount SpiceJet pays.
The order gives SpiceJet three months from receiving the copy of the judgment to comply. If it misses that window, the interest rate on the amount jumps to 15 percent per annum. The complainant has also been given the option to file an execution petition if the order is not honoured, in which case the airline would additionally have to bear Rs 10,000 as the cost of execution.