Nov 29, 2012 09:22 AM
5465 Views
I booked a flight from Kolkata to Kochi for 18-Jan-2013.Flight No: 6E 345 Booking Reference: CWGKDE
Departs: 10:10 AM Arrives at Kochi: 02:10 PM
Spicejet was lot cheaper but I opted for Indigo because of it's departure time. SpiceJet departs at 08:05 AM in the morning and takes me to Kochi at 05:00 PM in the evening. There was a long waiting time in Mumbai. I decided to pay the extra money to Indigo for two reasons:
1) It's difficult for me to catch an early morning flight. I know that 08:05 AM is not really early, but the distance of my home from the airport and the traffic conditions in Kolkata make SpiceJet's 08:05 AM quite inconvenient time for me. Indigo was offering a flight at 10:10 AM and it suited my need.
2) Indigo 6E 345 reaches Kochi 02:10 PM. So I don't waste time on flight or between flights. The very reason people opt for air travel.
I made the booking on 27-Oct-2012 and got a confirmed ticket. I was completely certain about my journey till yesterday 28-Nov-2012 when I received a call from Indigo saying that the flight timing has been changed to 06:15 AM in the morning. I was very surprised to hear this news. I requested them to email the changed itinerary . I saw that not just the departure time, they have changed the flights itself. Now I have to go to Kolkata to Bangalore by 06:15 AM flight (6E 377). I have to wait for 4.5 hours for the connecting flight to Kochi (6E 407). It will reach Kochi at 2:10 PM. So except the arrival time in Kochi everything else is changed.
At this point I was very curious to know what happened to Indigo 6E 345 on which I was originally booked. I checked Indigo's site ; they were still selling that flight, it is still flying at 10:10 AM but only going from Kolkata to Bangalore. I thought, why can't I go to Bangalore by this 10:10 AM flight which will reduce my waiting time for the connecting flight to Kochi. I called up the customer service desk, they said we can't book you on 6E 345 because it is cancelled. I told the guy that I can see it on your site. He fumbled a little bit and then said the site has not been updated !!. A major carrier selling a cancelled flight on their site !!!!!. I was not at all convinced.
I called up again, some other guy picked it up. I had to narrate the whole story once again. This guy said we can't give you a seat in 6E 345 at 10:10 to Bangalore because it is fully booked !!. But dude I had a confirmed booking on that flight since last one month. After hearing this he put me on hold for two minutes . He came back and told me that only thing he can do for me is to cancel my reservation and process a refund.
At this point I ran out of patience and requested my travel agent to cancel the flight and book me on some other carrier. I have never experienced such unprofessional behavior and ludicrous customer support from any other airline. This was the first time I was planning to fly with Indigo. This will most likely be the last .
