Flying reimagined?: Notice issued to UAE national flag carrier

Petitioner seeks over Rs2 million damages.

LAHORE: A consumer court issued a notice to the Etihad Airways manager on Saturday in a suit seeking Rs2 million damages for not being allowed to board an Abu-Dhabi-bound flight at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Advocate Saad Ghazanfar told the court that his client Kashif Farman Ali had travelled to Toronto on the national flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates after purchasing a return ticket for the sector. Petitioner Ali said he had departed from Lahore on March 16 and arrived at Toronto on March 17. He said he was scheduled to fly out of the city on April 7 at 3pm.

Ali said Etihad officials had refused to issue him a boarding pass when he had arrived at the airport to catch the flight after citing a change in its time of departure. He said they had informed him that they were not in a position to issue him a boarding card as the flight was set to depart in one hour. Ali said he had not been intimated about the change in the flight’s departure time.

He said the development had compelled him to stay in Toronto for two more days. Ali said he had returned to Lahore on April 9 after purchasing another ticket.

He said he had spent $407 over the two days in accommodation and miscellaneous expenses.  Ali said he had also missed an important meeting due to the development.

The petitioner asked the court to instruct the airline to pay him Rs2 million damages, the $407 he had spent over his forced layover in Toronto and refund his ticket.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2015.