May 22, 2009 06:15 PM
3824 Views
I was planning a trip back from Dubai to Mumbai on 24th of the month. For some reason, I had to prepone my trip. So the lady at Air India asked me to come in person to their office, pay loads of money and get tickets rebooked for a prior date.now that this was done.
I arrived at Dubai International airport to check myself in. Turned out, Air India had booked me into an Indian airlines flight due to a convenient codesharing agreement between the two liners. I couldn't care less, and I went over to the counter to find out that out of the 8 tickets that were preponed for that day, 6 have been re-booked successfully! Unfortunately, I was one of the two whose ticket stood CANCELED! What followed was what looked like a beautifully choreographed game between Indian Airlines and Air India.
IA officials said AI is at fault. AI office at airport tell me AI booking office is at fault. AI booking office...well that's just shut for the day. I felt like clapping on the spot. The dirt was swept under the rug with such panache. So, in the state that I was, I asked "what should I do now?". "you cant do anything sir", came the reply. After an hour of fighting and after a few air punches and mind swearing, we managed to get on the flight.On entering the airline.
I realized that IA didn't have air-hostesses; they had air-aunties instead; 4 of em! never mind that. Once on the flight, there was an argument between a Spanish couple who couldn't speak Hindi or English and an Indian man who couldn't speak Hindi or English either. So much for common languages! I went over to inspect the situation and found that the Spanish couple wouldn't let this gentleman take his designated seat. Why? Because they wanted their 3 year old son to sit with them. Quite a reasonable request I thought. What then was the confusion? The Spanish Mum and Dad were alloted seats 14D and 14E; and the mature 3 year old was alloted seat 19B. =)
I wonder if IA did this on purpose :)We were cruising somewhere over the ocean when the bar service started. The air-aunty asked for my preference of drink and I expressed my wish to have a Ballantines with Coke. The gentleman next to me immediately asked the air-aunty for a coke too. What followed next cannot and shouldn't be experienced by anyone on any international flight. EVER! its just wrong. The air aunty looked back at the gentleman with furious eyes and said "DETI HOON NA. DETI HOON NA! DO HI HAATH HAI! CHAAR HAATH HAI KYA?!"
Thats when I knew that asking for a refill was out of the question.Within 3 hours, I'd witnessed world class hospitality, courteousness, customer service, planning and a big scar on a brand that is IA. The next day, the papers read, govt facing trouble in the IA and AI merger; due to supposed HR issues. Hmm... so that is what they call them now :)
