Indian airlines to pay passengers for “mental agony” of flight delays

Here’s some good news for travelers: an Indian consumer court ruled that all airlines in India must compensate passengers for sudden cancellations or long delays that cause “mental agony and harassment.” (Delays from bad weather are exempt.) The ruling came after passengers complained and demonstrated.

Although the article from the AP doesn’t detail what counts as “agony,” I can certainly think of a few situations: missing a connecting flight, missing a connecting flight and then your $2500 cruise, missing a connecting flight and subsequently your sister’s wedding — you get the point.

I’m glad to see that that someone is setting a precedence, even if it’s overseas. Anyone up for a protest at JFK?

Thanks to jyang825 on Flickr for the photo of the Bangalore airport.

Indian Airline Billboard Wars Continue… Maybe.

Remember when I posted about the billboard wars between Indian airlines Kingfisher and Jet Airways? Jet Airways had erected a billboard saying “We’ve changed” and Kingfisher responded with a billboard of their own directly above the Jet Airways message saying “We made you change.”

The story isn’t over — a third Indian airlines, GoAir, responded to both of them with a third billboard saying, “We’ve not changed. We’re still the smartest way to fly.”

This is getting a bit ridiculous. With roughly 18 airlines in India, the billboards might reach the moon by the time the battle is over. I do have a sneaking suspicion that the GoAir billboard is Photoshopped, though. If you look at the original article I wrote, the bottom billboard doesn’t have “DesignersMind.com Creative Showcase” written on it like in the photo above. Someone’s been messing around.

What do you think? Can anyone verify that this third billboard actually exists? [via]

Previously: Kingfisher to Jet Airways: We Changed You!