Delhi Court orders IndiGo to pay ₹1.5 lakh to passenger over stained seat

A consumer court in New Delhi has ordered IndiGo Airlines to pay ₹1.5 lakh in compensation to a passenger who was assigned a stained and unclean seat on an international flight, ruling that the carrier failed to meet basic service standards. The decision also includes ₹25,000 toward litigation costs.

The case, heard by the New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, stemmed from a January 2 flight from Baku to New Delhi, as per reports. The passenger alleged that her assigned seat was “unhygienic, dirty and stained” and that her complaints were handled in a “dismissive and insensitive manner.” The panel, led by President Poonam Chaudhry with members Bariq Ahmed and Shekhar Chandra, agreed, finding the airline guilty of “deficiency in service.”

IndiGo acknowledged the ruling but maintained that it had offered an alternative seat, which the passenger accepted, and that the flight continued without further incident.

In its July 9 order, made public this month, the Commission noted a key omission in the airline’s defense: the absence of the Situation Data Display report, a standard operational record for monitoring flights and logging passenger incidents. The omission, it said, “significantly weakens” IndiGo’s case.

The ruling highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of airline service quality, particularly around hygiene and customer complaint handling.