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"Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" which means " Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts." . . . .
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In the past few months, I have far too much hoping around at work and sometimes, I feel like a human football (Well both in shape and in mind). Travel is natural in my line of work, specififcally because we have offices in 4 cities in India. Usually I let the office put me on a flight, but on this one rare ocassion, I had some free time and walked into the Airport to get myself a flight booking. The speed of processing at the counters was pretty decent and nice, I was in and out in less than 20 minutes and I got what I needed.
A week before the flight, I received an official e-mail that put me in a crunch. I had a presentation to close 1hour before the flight time and I had to be on that flight for my next presentation in my destination city and this meant I could not afford to cancel. So, I contacted Air Deccan and explained my position and it was a dead end, the agent on the phone had no clue and for all I know, I was speaking latin to him. So, I took some time the next day and went back to the Airport and presented my request at the counter and asked them, if they would permit me to board, if I arrived exactly 20 minutes before the departure time. I was ready to accept denial of flight if it was less than 20 minutes to flight time, and after a long tiresome discussion, I received confirmation and on specific request, I did get a fx sent to my office from the Airline employee who spoke to me, confirming the permission.
On the flight date, I arrived at the counter 25 minutes before departure time, which is 5 minutes after closing the Check In counter for that specific flight and presented my booking and the confirmation letter I had faxed and they declined my boarding. There was no explanation why, it was simply declined and I was refused boarding the flight. Long story short, I had to pay thrice the normal price in a competing airline and since this was my delay, the office did not cover it and so, I paid a hefty price for this trip.
A few may agree with my helplessness and few might not, however, my take was simple, if an employee provides a confirmation and says that he is willing to extend the check in time by 10 minutes to the normal, due to my situation and issues a fax confirmation for the same, how can it be declined? The explanation is simple, the Ground Staff of Air Deccan does not comprise of A.D employees alone, it has third party people put there on a contract basis and these people seem to have a single mantra . . . Sell tickets, promise services and decline service !
This is probably the last time I will ever put A.D. in my travel plans. Explaining the quotation at the start, A.D still keeps sending me flight offers via e-mail, I choose to strike the Shift and Delete keys with pleasure. . . . Those are gifts I don’t need.
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No. of times flown on this Airlines:
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More than 10
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Class flown most frequently:
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Business Class
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