Today , Netaji’s Birthday, 23rd January 2009 , taught me a good lesson-Big is not always the Best.

I had planned to travel to Siliguri and hence booked a seat on the Jet Airways flight 9W617 operating on Kolkata(CCU) - Bagdogra (IXB) sector , scheduled to depart at 1220 hrs.

Checked with Jet Airways call centre at 1015 hrs - IVRS told me the flight was on schedule.

Reached Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport, Dumdum, at 1110 hrs , had an uneventful check-in (no smiles, no questions asked,not a single word uttered by check in officer) and then settled down with a hot cup of Cafe Coffee’s Hot Coffee for the security gate announcement to be made.

No announcements happened till 1215hrs .Then, a Jet Ground Staff started walking around in the airport’s passengers hold area- asking for jet passengers-and informed the waiting passengers - Due to bad weather,flight is delayed and is expected to depart at 1300 hrs.

About 1315 hrs,there was an short announcement made over the Airport’s AV - that the flight has been cancelled.

I hurried back to the check in counter,but the person at the counter was non-plussed on hearing this news and enquired around whether the flight has been really cancelled. On confirmation, he told the hapless passengers to go to the ticketing counter for full refund and collect the luggage from the arrival hall conveyer belt.

I was under the impression that the flying conditions are really bad and Jet has taken a right decision by cancelling the flight .

On approaching the Jet’s ticketing counter, there was a long que of passengers waiting for their refund.I also joined the que,which was inching forward at a very slow pace.There were about 6 Jet executives inside the ticketing office ,some sitting idle, but none of them were interested to open any more counter for speedier refund.

I asked around and came to know that SpiceJet and Kingfisher are also flying on the same sector and rushed to their counters for a ticket.To my utmost shock, SpiceJet told me their flight for the same sector is on the runway,slated to take off in next couple of minutes.

I wondered-how’s that possible?

Jet’s says- Weather is bad,flight cannot land but these guys are operating the flight.Immediately,I rushed to the Kingfisher counter-they also told their flight would operate on time ( about 45 minutes later) but it is fully booked.

Cursing my decision to fly on Jet , I came back and joined the cancellation que.Some passengers started agitating which bought the Jet’s Airport Manager who said that by cancelling the flight they have acted in good faith taking in view passengers security concerns. He kept on harping the fact that 2 days earlier another Jet flight had to come back from Bagdogra airport,unable to land due to bad weather conditions,and a lot of fuel was burnt and wasted.He tried to make passengers see the reason that fuel consists 35% of aircraft’s operating cost. Still,passengers were not convinced with his arguments and were fuming with this decision.

Since there was no other alternative,having stood in que for about 45 minutes, I got back my to & fro Jet Airways tickets refunded without any deduction but it was a small comfort.

The moot question is - Did Jet Airways really not operate the flight due to bad weather condition?
If Yes, how come SpiceJet operated the flight on same sector,around same time.
If No, then Jet has its own commercial reasons which supercede the passengers interests and makes a a mockery of their trust.

I am eagerly waiting to get the answer to this million dollar question.

No. of times flown on this Airlines:	Between 4 - 6
Class flown most frequently:	Economy Class