Airline Negligence and Lost Baggage: A Consumer's Right to Compensation
Poyam Swarnkar, Advocate | Hawelikar & Associates, Advocates
Every traveller’s worst nightmare is loosing their luggage after a long exhausting flight and what’s even more distressing is not getting any proper response from the Airline. The Indigo airline by which the consumers were travelling from Saudi to Srinagar via Delhi got only 5 baggage upon landing out of a total of six bags and the airline failed to address the grievance of lost baggage.
However, a recent ruling Mohammad Maqbool Hakeem & Anr. vs. Indigo Airlines dated 16.03.2026 by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir, reinforced that airlines cannot simply wash their hands of gross negligence.
The Consumer had taken flight from Umrah in Dammam, Saudi Arabia returning to Srinagar via Delhi by Indigo airline. At the Dammam airport, airline officials negligently clubbed the luggage of an entire group of eight pilgrims together without individually verifying the baggage. Instead of pasting luggage tags onto individual boarding passes, the airline officials handed over a stacked, inseparable pile of tags to a single group leader. Upon arriving at the Delhi Airport, the complainants realized that out of their five checked-in bags, only four had arrived. The lost baggage contained valuable items, including costly clothes and sacred items brought from Saudi Arabia, amounting to approximately Rs. 89,000.
On raising complaint by the consumers the indigo airline promised consumer that their grievance will be resolved within 14 days however, the baggage of the consumer were never traced by the airline. Eventually the airline while denying their liability Claimed that delay in delivery of baggage by the airline does not come under their liability. The consumer however, made out a case of complete loss of baggage due to negligence on the part of Airline.
The Commission observed that under the Carriage by Air Act, 1972, an airline's liability for loss, damage, or delay of baggage in domestic travel is generally limited to Rs.350 per kg (up to Rs.20,000 per passenger) or 1000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per passenger.
However, the Commission noted that the Consumer did not strictly base their claim on these limits but instead sought reasonable compensation for the loss of baggage and the ensuing mental agony. Acknowledging the inconvenience caused, the nature of the lost items, and the absolute failure of the airline to trace the baggage, the Commission ruled in favor of the consumers and directed the Airline to pay Consumer an amount of Rs. 89,000 as compensation for the loss of the baggage, Rs. 20,000 for the mental agony, harassment, and inconvenience suffered by the complainants and Rs. 10,000 towards litigation charges.