Had a meeting with the Indian Airlines - Country Manager - Kuwait
who was extremely courteous, patient and concerned about the
various problems faced by Passengers. He readily agreed to
address the issues with his Airport staff and find a solution.

In my case he tendered apology and offered to compensate. I was
left with no option but to gracefully accept hoping that IA Staff
keeps its word when we travel next, just for once.

The episode.....

I recently faced a rude shock when I went to see-off my children who
were traveling from Kuwait to Goa by Indian Airlines flight IC 576 on
3rd Jan 2004. A week before the journey I had re-confirmed the booking
with the Indian Airlines GSA in Kuwait and also verified about the baggage
allowance for passengers traveling by Economy class which by convention is
40 kilos per passenger.

After packing and carefully weighing the luggage to be sure that the total
weight was below eighty kilos for two passengers we checked in at the IA
counter and were very happy that the weight of the luggage was 77 kilos.
However, we were jolted at the counter staff’s demand for payment for
excess baggage of 17 kilos. When I pointed that we had two tickets and
the baggage allowance is eighty kilos, we were told that because the
tickets were purchased in India the allowance per passenger was only
thirty kilos per passenger.

In my ten years of stay in Kuwait I know of many passengers, residents,
visitors including my family members who have traveled back from Kuwait
with a ticket purchased in India and enjoyed the allowance of 40 kilos
without being discriminated.

It is extremely unfair for Indian Airlines to impose such restrictions
and discriminate on baggage allowance on the basis of origin of the
travel ticket. The Indian Airlines Airport Manager took great pride
in stating that this was the rule which he has been strictly enforcing
since he joined Kuwait station. In fact the rule is 20 kilos per passenger
and the convention/marketing gimmick is 40 kilos per passenger.

In fact IA should do away with this rule which is highly controversial,
objectionable and discriminatory and leaves passengers high and dry at
the time of checking-in and imposes a financial burden for no fault of
theirs. Indian Airlines policies and staff attitudes will soon succeed
in forcing patriotic Indians who make it a point to travel by our national
airlines to abandon them and increase the losses.

I have spread the word and informed all my relatives and friends to
religiously avoid traveling by Indian Airlines when we have so many
Airlines operating from the Gulf to India. It is better not to be an
emotional, sentimental, patriotic fool and travel by an Airline
which discriminates on the grounds of where the ticket has been purchased.
An airline which may decide about baggage allowance on the basis of
the passengers caste, creed, place of origin, place of purchase of
ticket etc.

No Airline in the world decides baggage allowance on the basis of where
the ticket has been purchased.

No. of times flown on this Airlines:	More than 10
Class flown most frequently:	Economy Class