[HoustonFlyer]

My experience in the airline industry was before the days of internet booking and email confirmations. Nevertheless my experience is that passengers often make mistakes in dates and times of travel. One common one was that the departure time of 0530 is marked on the ticket and they would turn up at 5.30 p.m. and find that the flight left at 5.30 a.m. In your case where there is a whole day difference I think you were the one who made the mistake. Flights to India are typically about 24 hours in duration. With the time difference you may leave San Francisco at 7 a.m. and arrive in India a day later at 7 p.m. If your email confirmation was wrong and it said you were arriving in India the same day at 7 p.m. you had to know that this was wrong. If the airline really did that, they would be responsible for any direct damages you suffered as a result, relating to flight changes if any were needed. However for consequential damages like loss of business and missing an event, even if the airline told you you were arriving at a time which effectively is the same time as the time of departure, you were at fault for going ahead and planning a meeting based on that time.

It's like this - if you are taking a flight from New York to London and the airline gave you an arrival time of one hour after the departure and you go ahead and book conference rooms in London based on that wrong information, the airline will not cover the consequential damages. It will rebook you if necessary without charge, but you ought to have known that the time had to be wrong. For you to have been mistaken by the date, the airline will not cover this loss.

I think your colleagues and your people in India between them got the date wrong and you planned your meeting for the wrong date. I am fortified in this conclusion by your refusal to provide simple information which cannot possibly be too confidential to be disclosed on this forum, the flight having taken place over two and a half years ago.

I would suggest that even if you can't disclose it here, look back carefully at those times I asked for and you will see that the mistake was on your side.