Ahmedabad AI171 crash: Bereaved families accuse Air India of threatening them over compensation; airline denies

Families who lost their dear ones in the tragic Ahmedabad Air India plane crash now accuse the airline of "pressuring" them over the compensation settlement process during the initial days after the crash. However, Air India denied the allegations.

 

The families alleged they were threatened with "no compensation" if they failed to fill out a questionnaire, which lawyers allege was loaded with legal terms, difficult to comprehend for the general public. The families also alleged they were forced to reveal their financial dependency on the deceased. The allegation comes amid reports that families of Britishers who died in the crash planning to sue the airline and Boeing over compensation.

 

Peter Neenan, an aviation lawyer with UK law firm Stewarts, told The Guardian that the airline could save at least  £100 million by undercompensating families. "This is the real horror of what they’re potentially looking to do," he told the publication.

 

Neenan said the families were "put in a crowded, dark room in the intense heat" with other affected families, and were asked to fill out documentation and a complicated questionnaire on financial information. The families were not given any legal warning, he said.

 

The lawyer charged bereaved families told him that they were falsely advised that they would not receive any payments unless they completed the forms. “Our clients have shown us the questionnaire. It demands legally significant information using terms which have a legal definition, which is not being told to families," Neenan told The Guardian.

 

However, Air India denied the charges and said they are doing everything possible to disburse the compensation at the earliest. “In order to facilitate payments, Air India has sought basic information to establish family relationships to ensure that the advance payments are received by those entitled to them. Family members have been issued with a questionnaire to allow Air India to gather the information required to process compensation payments." The airline also denied charges of making unsolicited visits to the residences of affected families.

 

Air India, in a statement, said they have released interim compensation to 47 families, and payments will be released for  55 families shortly.

 

India