Air India Complaints & Reviews

I was traveling by AI 776 from Bangalore to Kolkata on 8th July 2009 (Etk:[protected]C1, Boarding No. 109) with my Otto Bock B 500 model (Made in Germany) power wheelchair (Tag No. AI313325 [protected]), which is designed for international air travel without removing the batteries (batteries are dry cell and sealed, do not need any maintenance). Being a faculty member of a Government of India funded educational institute I travel only by Air India and quite frequently. I have been traveling with this wheelchair by AI since 2012. I am based in Bangalore. However, this time the handling of my chair by the ground staffs (led by one whose first name starts with Priya and last name starts with P, wearing black coat). They didn't have any idea about how to security check this chair. When I tried to guide them from my experience how to get the wheelchair scanned in which big X-ray machine in the Bangalore air port they completely ignored me and made unnecessarily move from upstairs back to down stairs while boarding already started. When I assured them I had disconnected the batteries, they completely ignored me and forcibly tried to remove a cable, which could have seriously damaged the chair on which I am so dependent that in case of a damage even my going to toilet will become impossible. All these years I have been taking the chair close to the air craft door and then transferring to an aisle wheelchair leaving behind my own chair to be loaded into the cargo hold. There have been no security objections from the CISF (even I have been allowed to do so in case of Lufthansa or United Air in Germany or in USA respectively without any problem). Only this time these AI ground staffs refused me that practice as if they have more security responsibility than the CISF, while CISF personnel were quite sensitive and cooperative to me. These 'over learned' ground staffs even didn't know that most of the airport buses are equipped with wheelchair ramp and insisted that I leave my wheelchair behind to take on the wheelchair provided by AI (which are far poorer quality than mine, more over I have 85% handicap and my wheelchair is custom made) before boarding the bus. This way at each and every step they made journey hell and delayed the boarding due to their inefficiency, stupidity and insensitivity. Please take them to task.

Dr. Kausik Kumar Majumdar
Associate Professor
Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore Center
(An Institute of National Importance funded by Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Government of India)
8th Mile, Mysore Road
Bangalore 560059
http://www.isibang.ac.in/~kaushik
[protected]@hotmail.com
[protected], [protected]

CMD Air India - Mr. Ashwani Lohani,

I will like to first congratulate you for the recent revamping of Air India with better direct connections, allegiance with star alliance and the new fleet of Dream liners. I am a 1K member on United Airlines but have recently moved to Turkish Airlines due to sub-standard services o[censored]nited. I also am Sapphire One world Iberia which has been exceptional so far .

I, Amit Lohana reference number YEFC2 was a passenger on a flight from Delhi - New York - Delhi last week and saw quite a number of pitfalls in the service . The food served was sub standard in quality and presentation . On my first leg the Roasted Almonds from Jabsons were rancid and the crew acknowledged the same but didn't have another batch to offer . The prawns were dried out and were being served from silver foil trays which is not very presentable . The seat 14H was having glitches when pressing the recline button and your crew which was resting 13J was making more noise than the passengers . The choices on the entertainment system were very limited and if one is a frequent flyer on Air India then no new additions are reflecting on monthly basis.

On my return flight AI102 the service got worse, they served me Dal in flimsy silver foil which must be a mistake as Business class shouldn't be served in that manner . The remote and screen on the seat froze and after multiple resets was not operational making me go to the crew for every glass of water or any other service as the call sign button was not working . The nail on the coffin was the luggage damaged on the arrival at Delhi and the interrogation on the details of the luggage . On a frank note we don't expect to have high service standards like Emirates, Etihad or Singapore Airlines but at least basic business class services are expected from Air India . The entire journey becomes jinxed after the experience and you start doubting your loyalties . I recently saw an interview of yours and was greatly impressed with your openness and candor which makes me believe that you will surely take this in positive criticism and not junk the compliant into the system .

Regards,
Amit Lohani

Dear Sir/Madam,
1. I would like to express my disappointment from your unsatisfactory level of behaviour and services while travelling in Air India AI 820 Vadodara to Delhi on 27 Jun 17 (Seat nos. 4A, 4B, 4C, 6A, 6B and 6C). I had expected much more from a prestigious and reputed company of an inter national standard. Unfortunately, I can’t help but submit this letter of complaint hoping for a fast and adequate resolution.
2. I had pre booked wheel chairs for my aged parents in their 80's and 90's. Further, at the time of check-in, the appropriate inputs are made in the system to ensure that same is reflected for the information and action by cabin crew other concerned officials.
3. At Vadodara, at the time of boarding the flight, it was drizzling. My aged parents were wheeled out in open, in rain (not in any covered vehicle) on wheel chair through tarmac/apron/aircraft operating area to the aircraft ladder. I was not allowed to accompany them to provide some shelter from rain. I requested for an umbrella for them. My requests were not heeded to. By the time they were wheeled to aircraft ladder they were fully wet and drenched.
4. On boarding the flight as their clothes were wet, I had out dry them with towels as not change of clothes were available in my hand baggage. In-flight they caught cold, started shivering and sneezing. This was followed by an attack of pneumonia on arrival at Delhi, for which they are undergoing treatment on date too.
Due to their in flight condition and discourteous and gruff treatment at Vadodara, I requested the stewardess on the flight that proper wheelchair arrangement be made on arrival at Delhi.
5. Unfortunately, Ordeal did not end here. On arrival at Delhi, the flight embarked at a ladder instead at aero bridge. Due to uncongenial treatment by your staff my aged parents were were fully drenched and shivering were in no state to walk down the ladder. I requested for an ambilift. One of the ground staff (if recollect his correct name) Mr. Ranvir Singh was too harsh and impolite, I requested the flight stewardess too, they confirmed that ambilift was NOT available.
6. By this time, the Captain of the flight was de planing, he too instructed ground staff and the stewardess to more considerate and provide proper assistance. Regrettably, literally I had to carry my parents in my lap and limp with no help/assistance from your staff, who were mere spectator and just smiling and giggling.
7. On ground, the wheel chair was made available, on reaching passenger coach, I requested bus driver to put/extend ramp so that wheel chair could be rolled inside the bus. He confirmed there was no ramp in the bus. I inquired as to why no ramp facilities were available in passenger bus. The driver's response too was terse, curt and unhelpful. He rusticity conveyed “Babu aap Air India me safar kar reho ho, koi firang airlines me nahi” (Sir, you are travelling in Air India not in any foreign airlines). I was appalled at such behaviour, felt humiliated and insulted. I couldn't believe my ears. He seemed to think it was funny. I don't know how many passengers he has offended in past.
8. I hope you would personally look into the matter, and make sure such an incident is not repeated and my mobile is repaired at the earliest. Your company has been known to provide good services, and such events tarnish the company name, so please address this deficiency in service
9. Sir, I request an apology from official responsible for this shoddy treatment/behaviour, plus an explanation of why I was treated so badly. I also trust that you will take the necessary precautions to prevent such incidents in the future. Further I request you immediately detail bus driver for curtsey training programme.

10. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
Air Cmde Ravi Sharma VSM
Command Logistics Management Officer
HQ Western Air Command, IAF
Subroto Park, New Delhi 110010
Mob: [protected]

Ear Sir /Mam

Since 15Th June i am trying to make a group booking with AI but there have no email address where i have to put my query .

And calling center of Delhi and Mumbai are not receiving the calls .

This is the biggest reason for This Govt. Airline in Loss .

We Indian prefer Guest, and here i thing you dont need any guest and Booking .

We are approx 40 pax those...

Had a horrible experience from flying with AI international. While in transit in New Delhi airport following arrival by AI 102 on July 1st and waiting to embark AI 764 to Kolkata, numerous items were stolen by the AI baggage handlers from 3 suitcases. Though complaint was raised by calling various AI numbers, the staff is extremely rude, unresponsive and came up with vague websites and phone numbers to lodge further complaint and escalation. They said we should have checked each baggage right after getting those off the conveyor belt. This does not make sense as no passenger checks the baggage in the airport for ensuring all contents are there. Essentially the monetary value may be handled for this stolen episode, but want to raise this to AI higher authorities to ensure they are cognizant of these type of fraudulent unethical activities. We do fly AI consistently for past several years and have travelled in both economy and business classes. Time to rethink about flying with AI in future.

As per the website of air india under checked in baggage allowance link, it is clearly written that in case a traveller is travelling in alliance air flight connecting to air india flight or vice versa the baggage authorisation is 25 kg. I have online booked a ticket vide pnr no yhnwo for 08 and 09 jul 17 flying from chennai to gorakhpur in a connecting flight of ai 043 from chennai to delhi on 08 jul and by so 9809 from delhi to gorakhpur on 09 jul 17.in my this online my baggage allowance has been reduce to 15 kgs in botb the sectors which is against the baggage authorisation rules of air india published on air india website. When i contacted the air india customer care they are saying a standard answer that baggage authorisation in alliance air is 15 kg hence my authorisation has been reduced to 15 kg in ai flight also. They are unable to explain the rule position of air india which has been published by air india on its website..

I had multiple accounts created during pre-kyc era. Since ai mandated kya compulsory, i am unable to proceed through kyc submission screen since there is duplication of information.
I have written to air india japan, air india india. I have spoken with their customer care on numerous time. I have even run across multiple counters that ai has at delhi igi. Since this problem has not been resolved for over 2 years now, i m unable to utilize my flyer miles and ai just does not seem to care.
I have written to
Flying-returns. [protected]@iclployalty.com,
Ffp-general

Sir, on 25.06.2017, i had booked online one ticket in flight no ai-854 on 27.06.2017 for delhi and return journey ai-851 on 29.05.2017 for pune. Though, i gave details of my mobile no [protected] and e-mail id [protected]@gmail.com, no pnr or booking details have been sent to me. Today i. E. 26.06.2017, i spoke with the air india staff at pune on no.[protected] and informed her of my grievance, she informed that she would mail the details to me. However, till now, i have not received any details and i am not able to print my ticket. Please help me urgently. - surendra thakur singh

I traveled with air india from chicago to hyderabad by flight # ai 126 departing june 22nd 2017 from chicago and arriving in hyderabad the night of june 23rd. The experience i have while travelling could only be termed as horrendous. I have been travelling for the past 20 years to and from chicago to hyderabad and must have made at least 10 trips by myself and with my family that consists of 3 kids. I have traveled right from the time they were infants to teenagers now. I have traveled with royal jordanian, klm, ethihad, emirates and air india in the past. Nothing comes close to the kind of experience i had while traveling with air india this time around.

I was traveling with my 2 sons aged 11 and 9. They were extremely happy to be flying and i was hoping that i could keep them engaged on the 14.5 hours trip from chicago to delhi with games, books, cards, sketching and tv of course. But air india seemed to have quite other plans for us. As soon as we boarded and were on our way, i noticed that the airplane we were flying in seemed very old. There was transparent tape everywhere. I did not pay much attention to it.

We were seated in rows 20h, 20j and 20k. Once we were in the air however, i realized that the tvs were not working for all 3 o[censored]s. I tried everything but nothing on the remote was working. We did not have any service except the monitor being on. We could not even switch the monitor off. No control on the remote was working. This meant we could not call the attendant and we could not even switch on the light. The people in front o[censored]s seemed to have the same issue. I did not say anything then.

When the air hostess came to serve us food, i told her about the situation. She said that she would check with the staff and said that the monitors had been working when they had made a technical inspection of the plane before leaving chicago and feigned surprise. I waited for a couple of hours but there was no feedback. Somehow i tried to catch her attention and asked her what was going on. She said they had tried but there was nothing that could be done. I told her that i had 2 kids traveling with me and it would be extremely difficult to continue the journey with no tv. She said she understood and told me she would try again.

That was the last time i heard anything about it. After that the air hostess started behaving very rude and tried to avoid talking to me. Suffice it to say that she did not provide any kind of service except handing us our food trays. Even the tea, coffee she poured reluctantly. I did not complain and decided to let karma take its course.

The next few hours were pretty agonizing. Not even did the tv and other controls did not work but we were unable to switch off the monitors. This meant that when the lights went off we have a 12 inch monitor staring directly at us with full brightness. My children could not sleep and nor could i. I had to cover the monitor with the blanket that was provided to decrease the intensity of the light coming from the monitor. If we had to look for anything or read we would have to open the window to let the light from outside come in. Yes, it was literally the dark ages all over again and we were paying a hefty amount of money for this torture.

Not once did anyone come and apologize to us. Not even offer an alternate solution. There were 8-10 rows with the same problem and none were offered any sort of solution. I could not wait for the trip to end and somehow managed to keep my kids engaged with games on my phone. Even had to hear some complaints from other customers that my son was leaning against their backseat. I was very proud of my kids that they did not create any disturbance and quietly played around and kept themselves engaged and behaved very well.

I heaved a sigh of relief when we reached delhi and hoped that it would be the end of my troubles. I did not realize that air india was just getting warmed up in tormenting us. The air hostess handed me 1 immigration form and i thought that the policy was similar to one for us wherein one form is given to the whole family traveling together.

At delhi, we got delayed for an hour because of maintenance issues they announced. I didn't mind that because i have traveled for long and know that these things happen. But one thing i hoped for was that the issue with the remote control system would be fixed and our tv and other services would be functioning as they should. Boy! Was i in for a rude disappointment.

When we went into the same aircraft again, i realized that the cleaning crew had not even replenished the supplies. The airsickness bags we had used to store trash (Since no one came to collect trash) were gone and nothing was put in its place. Once again i did not pay much attention to it. But once we sat down in our seats again we realized that nothing had changed. The monitors still glared at us with the image of the taj mahal with a model posing in front. I am getting shivers just thinking about that image because i had stared at it for so long. I resigned myself to the fact that nothing had changed and just hoped to get the 2 hour leg of journey over with.

The passenger seated in front of me was trying the controls and complained to the attendant who told him the same thing i had been told. They should be working, i don't know why they are not. Let me go and check. The attendant left and of course did not return. The complaining passenger got hold of the air hostess who said that she would check in the back and switch it on. I smiled to myself at the blatant lies that were being passed out but decided that i would not make any trouble and kept quiet.

A few minutes later one of the passengers decided to open the baggage cabin bin over our seats. After getting her work done, she tried closing the bin but she was unable to do so. She tried to summon someone but seeing no one she walked away, leaving her bulging backpack hanging out. I hoped she had gone to get someone to close the bin for her. Minutes passed and all my attention was towards the bin. The air hostess walked by and i told her of the problem. She said she would get someone to close it and walked off. Another 15-20 minutes passed. The airplane hit turbulence and the backpack started to move out dangerously.

That's when i decided i needed to do something about it. I got up and talked to the gentleman in front of me and pointed him to the danger above. I asked the lady who had walked away after opening the bin door as to how she could sit quietly without doing anything about it. She answered that she had summoned the staff for help and they had assured her that they would close it. The gentleman summoned one of the cabin attendants by shouting out and he walked towards us. When we tried to explain to him the situation the attendant got angry. He was more concerned about the gentleman calling out for him rather than helping us out. When i told him that there was no other way for us to call an attendant since the controls were not working, he refused to accept any responsibility. He advised me to file an online complaint and there was nothing he could do about it.

I calmly told him i was not complaining about the electronic controls not working but complaining only about the bin that had become a safety issue for my kid and that i could not keep quiet anymore. The attendant started shouting at the top of his voice that they could not possibly come and close the bins and that we should be doing that ourselves. I said that the lady tried and could not do it. He said that was not their issue. He started shouting at the passenger in front saying he should not have called out for him. He banged the bin door close angrily as another person from the staff walked over to the passenger trying to calm the situation down.

I am completely flabbergasted with this approach. Leave alone an apology, we were dealt with like we were doing a mistake by talking out. Once again, not one person came to apologize or offer an explanation. I was just waiting for the flight to reach its destination. It did, but the nightmare did not stop.

In the immigration line, the office told me that i needed 3 forms, not 1. I had to get out of the line to take the forms and by the time i came back there was a huge line. Please imagine the state of my mind and body at that time. I had 2 very tired kids and here i was handed 1 form by the air hostess who knew completely well that i had 2 children traveling with me and chose to just hand me 1 form. Plain evil, i would say.

After requesting a passenger to let me join at the front of the queue, i managed to get the immigration done.

An unpleasant, unpleasant experience. I hope and pray that i never get to travel by air india again. The worst air crafts, horrendous service and extremely rude behavior.

I am including pictures from the trip of the monitors and everything being off. Please help me out here. The service we received was not what was promised to us when we booked the tickets. This is basic service and our rights were completely denied. I request air india to set this thing right.

Thank you
— zohra shaik

On June 19 a weather delay caused my daughter to miss Air India flight 439 from New Delhi to Chennai, India.

Upon going to the Air Ibdia counter, she was told that she must pay $300.05 US for a new ticket on flight 429, ito make her next flight.

Since weather caused her to miss her first flight, we are requesting reimbursement of the $300.05 US....

Hi,

Kindly note that i booked my air india flight 667 (Mumbai - trivandram) and air india 668 (Trivandram-mumbai) on 21st june, 2017.

https://book.airindia.in/itd/itd/lang/en/reservations/nsibe32568511/segment/bom2...⇄

Above is the link you have provided for booking or blocking seats in prior. The link directed us to the toll free number of air india. To start with i want to draw your attention to the disappointment we had to face while calling the customer care. None of your employees cared to help us book us the seat, adding to that that, out of 13 times i have called (You may check the records|ph. No. [protected]|) each of your employee made me hold the call and then eventually dropped it. This happened consecutively despite me warning them not to drop the call. Paying hefty amounts to an airlines and getting this type of a treatment is not fair. None of your employees had the decency to call me back or even apologise for such a big delay and ignorance. It is my utmost request that i get a call back from your customer care otherwise i would be forced to post about the failed system and the about my sufferings due to your incompetent department on indian new desk. (https://www.facebook.com/indiannewsdesk/), whom am partners with. Kindly pay attention. Thank you.

Best,
Pratyush negi

I don't want to get started with the eight hours of delay from doha to mumbai. But the thing which bothered us the most was the delay in baggages. It is five in total and we are yet to receive all of them. We have tried calling every landlines possible and to our "surprise", no one answered. We tried tracing the baggage pieces on the website provided, still no use. What am i supposed to do now??? Cause it's more than 24 hrs now! We came for a two months vacation to kochi as the entire family stays in qatar. We have no clothes to wear as the clothes are all packed up inside the luggage. Kindly respond immediately.
Thank you!

When i did check-in for ai951 on 19th june 2017, seat selected was 5c and also received check-in confirmation. Upon dropping baggage at airport, boarding pass was issued with 7d. When requested the crew why the change, crew mentioned it was system auto change and they cannot help. I had to board since i have no time. I preferred to have 5c and airline staff denied to assist and was consistently mentioning it was system auto generation and couldn't help. Upon further enquiry it was discovered that the seat was changed to 7d since another passenger opted to pay for 5c which was already reserved for me. Why would paid seats appear for check-in in the first place??

Respected sir/madam
I having frequent flyer no[protected] booked two ltc ticket via air india (Pnr no zdxqv) from delhi to trivandrum for 04-06-17, meanwhile i made a querry to customer care no regarding procedure and extra charge if i want to prepone my journey on 30-05-17, no request was made by me to get it prepone but when on 04-06-17 i alongwith my son and mother reached at new delhi airport i was told that there is no seat for me and my son and told that that pnr has been preponed on 30-05-17 and counter clerk charged extra rs 5000/- from me for booking seats on 04-06-17. Here i would like to mention that no any mail or request was received by us regarding change of date of journey. I was surprissed that how on telepohne querry only date of journey was rescheduled that to without any intimation.in this regard a complain was also lodged by me vide srl no 13328 at delhi airport itself. You are requested to kindly do needful and refund rs 5000/- charged extra from me and person responsible be given warning for causing me harrassement and inconvenience.

Thanking you

My air india booking ref number is z7xl6.
Which is for my relative mrs vilasben patel. Who is not able to walk so we make wheelchair at booking time.. At the ahmadabad airport ai provide wheelchair but at london airport newark airport ai staff doesn't provide staff so she face many inconvenience. When we ask at the airport that why you dont provide wheelchair they said that mumbai airport is not allowing you.. But when you give us wheelchair at ahmedabad airport then why not given at london airport and newark airport.. They not accepting anything.

Hi all,

I think almost everyone must be aware that airindia is the most non-recommended airline.
But i have travelled in domestic flights and thought that it may not be that bad experience as people share.
I booked airindia ai-173 for san fransisco for 4th june and it was a direct flight. Straight 22 hours journey.
I am a business woman and wanted a direct flight as i can't afford to waste even a single second.

But the horrific experience with their staff made me now write it down here and also i am going to the consumer forum.
This post is for everyone who are traveling for long distances.

Somehow after requesting at the counter, they gave me an extra legroom seat after paying extra (This makes sense to me), but again we got late because of him creating a problem.
Now i am in the flight and the flight has taken off. So, there is a button which is above your seat for your convenience so you can call the crew member and tell them your requirements. They never came after pressing the button and i thought its okay. These people are busy so when they will come i can ask for what i want. I was okay if they were not coming that time as it was day time.

Now its night almost 12:30pm, i called them, nobody came, this was 5 times i pressed the button but no one came. I got really furious by that time.
I went to the back and a guy and a lady were sitting there, i could see that they got the signal that someone is calling but they didn't give a damn about it.

I asked them that why are they not attending?
Clear reply 'madam we are trying to work here', i said okay but what if someone is in urgent need?
The guy rudely replied that "hum yahan faltu thodi na baithe hain".
I thought let's leave it there is not point in arguing with him as i found attitude issues with him, he was very rude.

I said i am very hungry (Just for all your information, 4-5 hours aftre the meal snacks are either distributed or the passengers are informed if it is kept somewhere).
He said' "we have kept is there and you can take it", i said then how am i supposed to know if i can take it?? Those are all covered?
He said "ki woh hamara kaam nai hai, you should know that".

I got really angry and said and asked him that he should have announced or displayed somewhere that are eatables for you and you can eat it anytime.

By this time he started shouting and said "you have not landed yet"
So better be careful. I can create problem at immigration and you will have to go back"

I really got scared. As i didn't know if he can do anything. I came back to my seat and felt really bad, he shouted at me and i was crying sitting on my seat.
His crew manager also saw me crying but didn't do anything about it. Then my friend grabbed some buscuits from there and i eat.

After this what i saw was heart breaking, all the oldies and uncles in my airbus came there and started eating. Probably these people were also hungry and were not knowing if they can eat that.
They saw me taking it from there and they also started eating. I felt so bad but couldn't do anything about it.

How stupid can airindia crew be?? Are you even human, you have oldies and kids and ladies on-board in your flight and you don't give a damn about it??

You better send me a written apology and my refund. Anyway i am going to consumer forum but this is just height o[censored]nethical behaviour of your staff who think its agovt job and they can do whatever they want in the air.

I had booked air india flight ai-9622, pnr - hqcvr from bathinda to new delhi, travel date 10 june 2017 and departure time 12.35 p. M. The flight got cancelled and i was informed regarding the same at 10.15 a. M on the same date i. E 10 june 2017. Also, no other flight was available from bathinda to new delhi on the same date.

I had also booked an onwards air india flight from new delhi to varanasi ai-427, pnr - y40nl, travel date 10 june 2017 and departure time 17.05 p. M. However, since my previous flight got cancelled, i could not catch this flight also.

I talked to air india customer service regarding the same to get my booking of new delhi to varanasi rescheduled or cancelled, but he said that the same can neither be rescheduled nor cancelled and i will not get any refund and my entire booking amount of rs.5370/- will be forefeited.

In view of the above, i had to re-plan my entire travel schedule. I had to book two train tickets from bathinda to delhi of myself along with my husband costing rs.1230/-. I had to book another flight from new delhi to varanasi flight no indigo 6e-176 on another date 11 june 2017 costing rs.6000/-. My husband also had to take one day leave from his office.

I and my husband had to face a lot of mental and physical harassment on account of the above.

So, i request for claim of rs.12500/- on account of above.

My mother 56 yeras old mrs jyoti dubey a case of carcinoma thyroid and my father mr rk dubey 64 years old, senior cetizen and patient of ihd post cabg travelled by ai 437 from delhi to bhopal. I have chosen seat 4a and 4b for them, but they were allotted seats 7a and 7e. No reason given. Tkt no[protected], and[protected]. I want to know who were "more deserving" passengers who were alloted seats 4a and 4b and on what basis? Air india should not give a optiob to choose seat or if given they should respect it. I seek clarification for this reckless and uncommpassionate behaivour.

The air india website requires one to upload kyc documents for frequent flier. The website does not work. On calling the callcentre, they say tha their website does not work with chrome - only with internet explorer. Try the same with explorer. Still does not work. On calling the call centre again, they pretend not to hear midway through the conversation. Maybe they dont have a solution so that pretend not to hear - or maybe equipment they have is faulty. This happened two times with two different agents. Why can't they get anything working???

Sir my name is ashutosh sati i was to travel to bombay from delhi on air india ai-102 ticket number[protected] to depart at 17:00
Sir due to heavy traffic and unforseen circumstances i reached the airport by 16:17 but i was denied entry into the flight as the officials had already closed the entry doors sir i had an interview at bombay and it was absolutely necessary for me to take that flight inspite of that they did not consider my request of opening the gates even for a minute when i asked to cancel my ticket and reimbursement they denied it and told me i'll only be returned taxes this happened before the scheduled departure of the flight sir i want you to please look at this matter and reimbursement me for my my fare if possible