Air India Express — Complaint and request for refund - delay of AI 130 from London to Mumbai on 22/23 January 2015

Address:

Indore, Madhya Pradesh

I travelled with the Air India flight (AI 130) from London (Heathrow) to Mumbai (India) on 22 January 2015. The flight was scheduled to depart from London at 13:30 on 22 January 2015 and reach India on 23 Jan 2015 at 4 am. However, the flight arrived at 5.40 pm to Mumbai on 23rd Jan 2015 with a considerable delay of almost 14 hours. Moreover the entire experience and the response of air India was shocking and painful causing personal, financial and physical loss. We departed from London at 13.30 on 22 January 2015. Within sometime (around one hour) suddenly our TV screens went off, lights went off and there was a weird sound inside the flight. Within 5 minutes the pilot announced that there is some issue and the flight would be emergency landing at Budapest airport. Even after repeatedly asking the crew about the exact situation and the reason behind emergency landing there was no adequate response from the crew. We were just told that we might have to stay the night in the hotel at Budapest organized by air India and that they were not aware of anything else. Within few minutes we landed at Budapest airport. Soon after, the aircraft was vacated (about 6 pm – Budapest time) and passengers were instructed to move out. We were asked to sit in the lobby and wait for further instructions. We kept waiting at the airport sitting area but received no information from Air India crew. There was hardly any food available at Budapest airport and the outlets did not even accept cards and most currencies. Most passengers had no money to buy food or even water from the airport. When few passengers started getting hungry and sick that they made some noise, and asked Budapest airport authorities to contact air India crew and provide some food. Till then, we did not hear at all from Air India. Finally after few hours of waiting we were given some food by Budapest airport authorities which was also not satisfactory. Finally we were told that flights are arriving from other destinations which would take us to Delhi (contrary to our port of arrival i.e. Mumbai) and we would depart from Budapest airport at 11.30 pm (Budapest time). After few hours we were told that there are two flights coming from different locations and they would take us to Mumbai. No information was given about our baggage. Finally we were told to queue at 1 am (Budapest time) to start our departing procedure. We were taken inside some other air India flight (AI 140 or 142) by 1.45 pm and finally we departed from Budapest airport by 2pm (Budapest time). Still no information was given to us about how are baggage would be adjusted and why we were made to wait at the Budapest airport for almost 9-10 hours and not provided hotel accommodation (as promised earlier). The wait at the airport was painful without any adequate notice and reason. We finally reached Mumbai at 5.40 pm (contrary to our scheduled arrival of 4am) on 23rd January 2015. Not only did I miss out on important personal commitments due to the unreasonable delay, but continue to suffer from back and neck pain as the airline could not even provide us comfortable arrangements (hotel or otherwise) at the Budapest airport, where the flight landed in between. I am frequent flyer with Air India (Membership no – AI[protected]. The Air India’s reaction and response with this entire situation was shocking and forced me to write this complaint and request for refund of the entire cost of the tickets and damages. Air India should have been considerate enough to compensate their passengers for this loss itself. However, in view of their negligence, I am writing this complaint. Hope that my complaint would be immediately dealt with along with my request for refund. Awaiting your response and immediate attention. Best regards Rohini Singh Sisodia