Airline Ordered to Pay Nearly $600 After Passenger’s ‘Premium’ Liquor Bottle Shattered During Flight

An IndiGo Airlines plane flies over Kolkata, India, on December 14, 2025. (Photo: Sudipta Das/NurPhoto via AP)

An airline has been ordered to pay around $580 in compensation after a passenger’s premium liquor bottle, valued at 35,000 rupees ($370), was allegedly shattered inside his checked luggage during a domestic flight.

According to The Indian Express, a consumer commission in Hyderabad ruled that IndiGo Airlines was responsible for the damage after finding the bottle could not have broken during normal baggage handling without being “severely mishandled” by ground staff.

The dispute stemmed from a September 2025 flight from Delhi to Chennai.

The passenger, Vineeth Maddala, said he declared the premium liquor bottle during check-in so airline staff could take appropriate precautions. The bottle, which he valued at approximately $400 (35,000 Indian rupees), was packed inside his checked suitcase.

When he collected his luggage in Chennai, however, he discovered the bottle had shattered.

Maddala later contacted the airline, which acknowledged that the bottle had been properly packed and sealed before departure but cited its baggage policy stating that fragile items are accepted in checked luggage at the pasfsenger’s own risk. The airline ultimately offered him a voucher worth about $6 (500 rupees), which he rejected.

After legal efforts failed to resolve the matter, Maddala filed a complaint with the Hyderabad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

IndiGo did not file a response within the required time, and the commission proceeded with the case without the airline’s participation.

In its ruling, the commission rejected the airline’s reliance on its standard baggage policy.

“The opposite party cannot absolve itself of liability by hiding behind boilerplate terms like ‘passenger’s own risk,'” the commission said, according to The Indian Express.

The panel added that once an airline knowingly accepts a fragile item that has been verified as properly packed and sealed, it assumes a heightened duty of care.

The commission concluded that “a bottle packed safely inside a suitcase does not shatter into pieces during standard transit unless subjected to violent throwing, dropping, or severe mishandling by the ground handling staff.”

The airline was ordered to pay 35,000 rupees ($370) for the destroyed bottle, plus 9% interest, an additional 15,000 rupees ($160) for mental anguish and 5,000 rupees ($50) to cover legal costs, bringing the total award to nearly $580.

The ruling also found that offering only a nominal voucher after the incident amounted to an unfair contract under consumer protection law.