Red Letter Holidays asked to pay Rs 1L to Secunderabad family for arbitrarily canceling tickets

Hyderabad: Gurgaon-based travel consultant Red Letter Holidays has been fined Rs.1,09,220 for arbitrarily canceling the flight tickets of three Secunderabad passengers. Red Letter Holidays designs tailor-made tour packages for its customers.

A complaint was filed at the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, Hyderabad by Col. Ajay Reddy, his wife Anjali Reddy, and his daughter Aditi Reddy against Red Letter Holidays for canceling their flight tickets from Mumbai to Mauritius and back without their request. The tour consultant reportedly did not inform the passengers about the cancellation.

Hailing from Secunderabad, Ajay Reddy and his family had planned a holiday to Mauritius from December 19 to 27, 2018. They had contacted Managing Director of Red Letter Holidays Ujjwal Sharma to enquire about the same. On October 12, 2018, the complainants transferred an amount of Rs.1,40,017 to Red Letter Holidays to book their flight tickets from Mumbai to Mauritius and back. They received intimation that their tickets were confirmed.

On October 16, 2018, Ajay Reddy telephoned the Red Letter Holidays to enquire about the cancellation charges only for their knowledge. On October 17, 2018, they received a reply with the cancellation charges as per the policies of Air India Limited. The complainants did not reply as they had enquired only for information.

By the end of October 2018, the complainants received a phone call from the representative for booking hotels and sightseeing, etc. However, the complainants did not avail their services as they made the arrangements on their own.

On December 4, 2018, the complainants booked air tickets from Hyderabad to Mumbai and back.

At 10 am on December 18, 2018, about 24 hours before the departure, the complainants called up the Air India office to verify the time and baggage allowance of the flight from Mumbai to Mauritius. That is when they came to know that their tickets have been canceled.

When they called Red Letter Holidays, their representative said that the tickets were canceled because they did not respond to their messages.

The complainants paid Rs. 2,52,600 and rebooked the tickets.

Two legal notices were sent to Red Letter Holidays, but they did not respond. The complainants later filed a complaint at the consumer court. None appeared on behalf of Red Letter Holidays in the court.

The court after consideration of the proofs submitted said that the complainants had enquired about charges when they had not requested cancellation. Also, there is nothing on the record to show that Red Letter Holidays informed the complainants that they had canceled the tickets. "The information about the cancellation was not passed on to the complainants," the Commission observed.

"Enquiry does not mean that the complainants have sought cancellation. Cancellation of the tickets by the Opposite Parties (Red Letter Holidays) on their own based on the inquiry made by the complainants though there was no specific request from the complainants to cancel the tickets certainly amounts to deficiency of service. More so, when no information was passed on to the complainants about cancellation done by the Opposite Parties," read the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission's order.

Considering this, the Commission directed Red Letter Holidays to pay Rs.84,220 for booking fresh tickets, Rs.15,000 as compensation for causing mental agony, and Rs. 10,000 as costs of litigation.

Red Letter Holidays was also given 45 days to comply with the order failing which they will have to pay interest at the rate of 12% per annum on the amount (except costs) till the time of realization.