Lufthansa to pay for delayed delivery, damage to luggage

Lufthansa Airlines has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 90,000 to a flier whose luggage was delivered three days late with one of the bags in damaged condition, when he had travelled on the airline from Frankfurt to New Delhi.
The South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held the airline liable to pay the amount, saying "by late delivery of the baggage and that too in damaged condition, the complainant has suffered financial loss and harassment for which he is entitled to be reasonably compensated".
"We direct the opposite party (Lufthansa) to pay a sum of Rs 65,000, the cost of missing articles to complainant along with Rs 20,000 towards compensation for physical harassment and also to pay a sum of Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation," a bench presided by Narendra Kumar said.

The order came on a complaint of Delhi resident K D Marwaha, who had alleged that his luggage, which was booked on the same flight he was travelling in, arrived three days after he landed here and one of the bags was damaged with jewellery worth Rs 65,000 missing from it.
Lufthansa in its defence contended that the alleged loss of valuables from Marwaha's luggage was due to his negligence as he should not have kept the jewellery in his checked-in luggage.
The forum, however, did not agree with the airline's contention.