Air India Express denied boarding with no reason — and was ordered to pay Rs 70,287

On February 11, 2021, a mother and her three-year-old son holding confirmed Air India Express tickets from Kochi to Abu Dhabi — Rs 20,287 paid, 9pm departure — were denied boarding despite having valid tickets and travel documents. They had to buy fresh tickets from Kochi to Sharjah for Rs 29,510 and then make an additional onward journey to Abu Dhabi with the young child.

The airline neither gave a satisfactory explanation for the denial nor refunded the original fare. After sending a legal notice in August 2023, the passengers approached the Thrissur consumer commission seeking the refund, Rs 5 lakh in compensation and litigation costs. Air India Express did not appear despite receiving notice and filed no version of events, so the case proceeded ex parte.

In a September 15, 2026 order, the commission — President C T Sabu and member Ram Mohan R — held that the burden of proving a lawful reason for the denial fell on the airline, and it produced none: no evidence of any restriction or passenger-side default, and no proof the fare was ever refunded or adjusted against the new tickets. Denying the confirmed service without a legally sustainable reason, then collecting fresh money for a different destination, was deficiency in service — aggravated because one passenger was about three years old.

The commission partly allowed the complaint: refund of Rs 20,287 with 9% annual interest from February 11, 2021 until realisation, Rs 40,000 as compensation for the deficiency, mental agony and hardship — reduced from the Rs 5 lakh sought as disproportionate — and Rs 10,000 toward litigation costs, all payable within 45 days.

Boarding was denied to passengers with valid tickets and documents, and the airline could not produce any lawful restriction or passenger default that justified it.

The fare was never refunded or adjusted, so the family effectively paid twice for the same journey.

The airline ignored the commission's notice entirely and lost the case ex parte, conceding every head of claim by default.

Denying boarding without recording a reason turns a gate decision into a lost lawsuit — the burden of justifying a denial sits with the airline, and staying silent forfeits it.

The September 15, 2026 order gave Air India Express 45 days to comply; if the Rs 50,000 of compensation and costs is not paid within that period, it carries 9% annual interest from the date of the order until payment.