Beware Indian Airlines. Review on Air India

Beware Indian Airlines

In Brief:-

“Harassment & Suffering due to overbooking”

This was the result of overbooking done by Indian Airlines because of which, even passengers with confirmed tickets had no seats.

Background:-

IC-856 / IC-857 (Bkk-Del 18th Oct, Del-Bkk 10th Nov) ticket booked from Bangkok. Ticket was okay (Confirmed) from beginning for the entire journey. Reconfirmation done twice for the onwards journey (Bkk-Del), once at the time of issue & next time on 16th Oct 2003.

(Note: - In spite of the fact that NO reconfirmation is required for onward journey in Indian Airlines. Generally for other airlines no reconfirmation is required except for altering of dates.)

Incident:-

I reached Bkk Airport check-in counter ~ 1 Hour 45 Minutes before flight time at 08:15 am. Flight time is 10:00 am.

I didn’t get a seat & was asked to wait. Whereas other passengers who came after me, were being cleared. When I approached the manager he asked to wait.

While waiting I made the Manager very clear that its very important for me to reach Delhi on time today because I want be on time to attend an Indian Festival. My mother has been fasting for the whole day today & she has to break the fast in my presence.

Then after sometime the manager told that the flight is full. If somebody wants to go via Calcutta he can be given a seat in the afternoon flight to Calcutta & then from Calcutta to Delhi in a domestic flight.

After waiting for sometime when it seemed that there is no other chance but to go via Calcutta, my wife and me agreed for that.

As soon as I told this to the manager, he started the check-in for remaining five passengers whose tickets were also confirmed. This made me furious, because the manager had never made it clear earlier that there are still five seats remaining in the Delhi Flight but seven passengers with confirmed tickets are waiting. He kept on telling that the flight has become full please tell me who wants to go via Calcutta.

Later the manager accepted that he had missed out telling this before & it was totally an airlines fault, which had done over booking.

Courtesy Shown:-

The Manager tried to arrange for a room for 3 hours in Amari Airport Hotel but could not find any vacant room. He told me that he could arrange a room in the interior of the city in some hotel. But I declined the offer because reaching there takes almost an hour & then coming back will take another hour or so. Then he sent one of his staff with me to the Amari Airport hotel reception & arranged for 3 coupons (Snacks, Lunch & Dinner) for both or us. We used one of them & spent the remaining time sitting at the reception area of the Hotel.

Suffering:-

I had to wait for ~3.5 hours at Bkk for the next flight to Calcutta. Then take out luggage from Calcutta International Airport & Check-in again at Calcutta Domestic Airport.

I had to wait at Calcutta for the next domestic flight to Delhi for ~4 hours.

I lost my 50% booking money in the 18th Oct Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi Express & had to take a taxi to Chandigarh.

I reached Chandigarh on 19th Oct 06:00 am instead of 18th Oct 20:30 am (i.e. nearly 10 hours late).

That day (18th October) was the day of an Indian Festival called “Jhakrien”. I was reaching on that occasion after 9 years time. The tradition is that the mother fasts for the whole day & breaks the fast after seeing the stars, in the presence of her son. My mother was denied this opportunity because of the carelessness of Indian Airlines. She suffered emotionally so much that she wept twice while waiting for me.

My only reason to chose flying Indian Airlines was that the IC’s new timing was allowing me a connection with Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi Express which would have helped me to reach Chandigarh by 20:30 on 18th Oct. Allowing me to be present on the occasion in time.

If I opt for TG of AI (the only other direct connections to Delhi) then I had to start 1 day before to reach on that occasion.

But Alas !!!! IC’s carelessness ruined all my planning & on top of that was responsible for the complete emotional & physical suffering, I described above.

Regards

Manmohan