Passengers Denied Boarding on Bengaluru-Athens Lufthansa Flight Receive Rs 4.5 Lakh Refund and Compensation

Passengers of a Bengaluru-Athens Lufthansa flight were recently granted a refund of Rs 4.5 lakh and an additional compensation of Rs 27,000.

The incident took place in October 2021 when Kyriaki Petriti and her son were at Bengaluru airport, prepared to board a Lufthansa flight to Athens via Frankfurt. Having purchased business class tickets for Rs 3.26 lakh, they were surprised when the boy was denied boarding despite having a valid passport. The refusal was due to the boy not being allowed to transit through Germany.

Consequently, the passengers had to book an alternative flight to Athens via Dubai with Emirates, which incurred an expense of Rs 4.49 lakh for the new tickets.

Dissatisfied with the situation, they decided to take appropriate action and filed a lawsuit against Lufthansa in a Bengaluru court. In July 2023, the court ruled in favor of the passengers, ordering Lufthansa to refund the original ticket cost of Rs 3.26 lakh. The court also directed the airline to compensate an additional Rs 1.22 lakh to cover the expenses of the Emirates flight from Bengaluru.

In addition to the refunds, the court imposed further compensation, including Rs 15,000 for service deficiency towards the boy, Rs 10,000 for the inconvenience caused to the passengers, and Rs 2,000 for court expenses. Lufthansa has been granted 45 days to make the payment.

The denial of boarding was attributed to the boy’s passport, which had expired. Due to the pandemic situation in India, passport renewal had become challenging. However, the boy’s father, Ashok Prabhu, sought and obtained an emergency passport with the assistance of the Greek embassy in New Delhi.