Jun 10, 2008 11:14 PM
7889 Views
In the earlier days, I wrote a review on Air India, not coz I was totally in love with the airline, but just to counter the many reviews out there that were proclaiming how bad the airline was. Now just how this is related to this review is something I will come back at the conclusion. For now the American experience would suffice.
Scene Part I
May 8th the day before I was leaving for India, I called the American Airlines call center and asked for two Asian veggie meals to be available on the flight that we were flying on. Company policy says that the passenger needs to call in at least 24 hrs before their flight to make such request.
Set aside the fact that my wedding was on my mind, I had packing to do, go to work another day, shop for food and store for a week for my bro to eat, and the other various million things that have to get done, I wanted to make sure that the trip started well and one of the first thing was flying and so I took the time and effort to make the call.
So the person on the other side lets just call them IF, short for Incompetent Fool, confirms that me and my fiancé will now have veggie options on board. Great!!
May 9th, we reach the airport and apart from the incident at the check in counter where the check in clerk somehow failed to notice that we had given her a credit card to pay for the excess baggage, and her proceeding to tell us that we NEED to pay for the excess, things went pretty well.
I was super excited when the plane took off and we were on our way! Then came the drama. At meal service here is how the conversation between me and the flight attendant went
Fa** : ‘Chicken or Beef?’
Me**: Oh neither, we had asked for the veggie option
Fa: *(staring at me for 2 minutes and probably thinking ‘what the bloody hell is she saying) Oh sorry let me check
(after the meal service had ended)
Fa**: MAM…I’m sorry there is no request for any veggie option
Me**: I called the call center yesterday, can you please check
Fa**: You have to call 24hrs before you know
Me**: Yeah Yesterday was 24 hrs before
Fa**: I’m sorry they haven’t placed anything on board for you
Me**: Oh , so what are my options?
Fa**: I’m sorry we have nothing on board that vegetarian, Do you eat Fish?
Me**: No
Fa**: In that case I cannot help you
Me**: How long is this flight again
Fa**: 9 hrs
Me**: So in this 9 hrs , there is nothing you can serve us?
Fa**: I’m sorry ‘MAM’, maybe you should speak to the call center
Me: Yeah **that is a great Idea, at 35000 ft. Thanks!!
So in the end they served us NOTHING and charged us for the alcohol….great!!!!
*Scene Part II
June 7th: We checked in for our flight and at the end of the process, asked the check in clerk if she can confirm that veggie options are onboard for us. And take a guess at the outcome…..that’s right you got it…NOTHING
There was no option again. So we were asked to contact the service agent for American airline at the other end of the terminal, which we did and the conversation went something like this
Me**: Hi can you please the veggie option we had asked for is available on board
Agent: Sure
(after 5 mins)
Agent:** MAM…I’m sorry there is no request for any veggie option
Me**: I called the call center on May 8th, and they didn’t have any food for us so I told them at Heathrow and they said they will have something for us on the way back
Agent**: You have to call at least 24hrs before you know
Me**: Yeah May 8th was at least 24 hrs before
Agent**: I’m sorry they haven’t placed anything on board for you
Me**: How is this possible……twice!!
Agent**: Maybe u should talk to the call center, we are operations, we don’t deal with this.
Me**: Yeah but you are American Airlines right!!! I don’t care what department you belong to. So what are my options?
Agent**: Your best option is to buy something for urself
Me**: Ur kidding me right….ur saying in this whole airport there is not a single veggie option
Agent**: MAM there is nothing I can do…….
That’s right!! They asked us to buy our own food and were totally unapologetic about it….so much for being an international airline….world class my #$@
So we did, we bought our own food and ate in the flight…yummy!!!
Conclusion:
Now this is what gets me, in all my years of flying I have NEVER heard of a passenger going hungry for 9 hrs and on the way back being asked to buy their own food.
For all the things that Air India is criticized for, one thing is for sure, never has a person gone hungry on even one of their flights, and that I think is something that in this case makes Air-India a million times better. This apart from the fact that there is someone at least willing to smile and work things out when there is a need, rather that saying ‘MAM………………….’
Oh by the way did I mention me American Airlines has not heard the last of me…..Angel of War is preparing for a Conquest!!!!
