Caveat emptor

Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal Chairman Justice Arun Kumar, who was flying back from Pune to Delhi the other day, discovered the hard way that even bitter competition may not improve attitudes to customers. His office had booked a business class seat on a Jet Airways flight but when he presented the ticket, he was told there were no business class seats on the flight. A long argument followed, but the Jet attendant was adamant — Justice Kumar would have to buy another ticket in order to fly economy. Finally, however, he relented and endorsed the business class ticket, sparing Justice Kumar the need to buy an economy ticket. While applying for a refund of the difference between the cost of the two tickets from Jet’s Delhi office, the TDSAT chief has lodged a complaint with the civil aviation ministry.