[Resolved]  Jet Airways — Wrongfully denied boarding

I had a ticket on the Kolkata-Bangalore flight 9W 515 on January 3, 2011 Ticket #[protected]. The mismanagement of crowd at the airport terminal entry ensured perennial bottlenecks and that caused me to report to your check-in counter at 5:35am. To my utter shock, they denied me boarding citing the "strict regulation" about reporting 45 minutes prior. I requested them to kindly let me in as a schoolboy would request the teacher to be let into the class following a five-minute delay. The staffer at the counter went on to scrawl on my ticket in red: "Reported Late" and directed me to the ticketing counter. He went on to explain how on days with "heavy passenger load", a delay of few minutes was unpardonable.

The mechanically unhelpful staff there advised me to wait for the same flight tomorrow (January 4) and pay up Rs. 9000 extra. Further requests from me and they redirected me to the duty-manager at the check-in counter. The person at the "Wait-Listed" counter parroted the same "strict rules" and any reasoning apparently made no sense to them. I wondered, are they instructed to use ear plugs while on duty?

When I tried to explain the urgency of my schedule and the need to be in Bangalore, the staffer calmly instructed me to cancel the ticket and book one with a competing airline. I had last flown 9W 515 about two years ago, though I am a very frequent flier on this route. Your own staff member's idea seemed to echo my beliefs about avoiding Jet Airways.

With time being of essence, and Jet not being able to offer me a worthwhile alternative, I was constrained to cancel my ticket and book a ticket on the next available flight with Indigo. It indeed cost me a significant premium over the booking price of my original ticket, besides the cancellation loss on my original ticket.