A business trip home turned into an ordeal for a 44-year-old man after a private airline allegedly denied him boarding despite issuing him a boarding pass, reportedly to accommodate a VIP passenger. Finding the airline deficient in service, a Chhattisgarh District Consumer Commission ordered it to refund the man Rs 4,144.

A bench of president Dakeshwar Prasad Sharma and members Nirupma Pradhan and Anil Kumar Agnihotri also awarded Rs 25,000 as compensation for physical and mental agony, and Rs 7,000 as litigation costs.

“After issuing the boarding pass to the complainant, the opposite party denied him air travel and thereby undoubtedly committed a deficiency in service and adopted an unfair trade practice,” the commission ruled.

Rejecting the airline’s argument that the complainant had not reached the boarding gate on time, the commission highlighted that the airline had a duty to announce the names of passengers who had not reached the boarding gate on time and to inform them by telephone to proceed to…