| Address: Gurgaon, Haryana, 122001 |
I wish to be polite but the incident encountered by my son compels me to call air india a big impostor and masquerader in their claim of being committed to improving efficiency in quality management services, whereas the duty manager, who is responsible for redressing the passenger complaints and issues, refused to even hear my son and instead started to dominate and indoctrinate him.
My son was booked on a flight bound to dubai from delhi (Air india 995) on 26th january 2018 at 20: 25 hours. He reached the airport at 17:45 hours and went to check in. Due to long queue and some snag in the system his boarding pass was issued at 19 hours. Subsequently he had to clear immigration and security check which took another 70 minutes. By the time he reached the the boarding gate, the boarding officer present then and there told him that the gates are closed and he cannot help him. When my son told him that he did not receive or hear any emergency calls, the officer refused saying that it is not their duty responsibility and air india does not make any announcements. This is highly shocking as even domestic flights do and this being an international flight dismisses it as not part of their duty. I am pretty well informed and aware of the fact that once the boarding pass is issued it is mandatory to make sure that the passenger has boarded the flight and if there is delay or deficit in their own procedures then it is the obligation of the officials to speed up the formalities and help the passenger board the flight on time. Even after my son's pleas and requests, though he was not at fault, the boarding officer was relentless and simply rebuffed saying they do not interfere in other departments and he is not responsible for the delay. He took advantage of my son's innocence and being alone to the point that when he connected me to him, he was not ready to hear anything. This is totally outrageous manner and rude on your part, when my son is not at fault. He simply mentioned on the boarding pass that the delay was from the issuing counter, which later changed by the duty officer present there that it was because of security check. This is highly appalling to easily pass the buck on each other, when everything is inter-related. Every department has an interface to each other in this case and this cannot be denied by your authorities to put the passenger at fault, when he is absolutely innocent. Had the boarding officer shown some sanity, he could have have helped my son board the flight instead of wasting almost 15 minutes in unnecessary arguments he indulged in with my son. I spoke to air india customer service department to mr kartik who suggested to speak to the duty manager. When my son spoke to duty manager mr raj, he was the most unhelpful person, refusing to even hear my son's problem in the first place and instead started shouting back. Is this the duty of your officials to shout on the passengers and make them the scapegoat of the whole thing. How disgraceful and horrifying.
This is sheer indictment of air india who fail to deliver services and assistance to passengers when in distress and trouble. My question is then why you issue the boarding pass when you cannot ensure to help the passenger safe and timely boarding irrespective of your delayed procedures, which again falls in your purview and not holding the passenger responsible for missing the flight due to it.
If air india shows prudence, then kindly reimburse the amount of my ticket. My son had to reach dubai on 27th january by all means, so he was left with no choice then to buy another ticket which costed him more. I request as well as demand my money to be reimbursed for the flight he did not take.in fact the duty manager should have connected him to the next flight without any charge but the lapse of duty on your part has caused to lose trust on your brand.
Air India customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
DB