Air India Complaints & Reviews

We would like to bring to your notice the extra ordinary ordeal we have put through by the Air India staff on our arrival at Mumbai Airport on January 8, 2013.
We boarded the flight AI 144 from Newark and where heading to respectively destinations within India with the transit point being Mumbai. The flight had to be diverted to Vienna, Austria due to an emergency. A Senior Citizen on the flight was seriously ill and the doctors on board determined that she needs urgent care to revive her and hence the captain informed us that the plane has to be diverted to Vienna. Although the initial instructions were that the delay would be about 40 min, it took over a few hours.
On arrival at Mumbai, we learned that our connections were missed and we have to complete the custom clearance at Mumbai and Air India ground staff has already made the arrangements for our travels to be booked on the next flight to our respective destinations.
The Ordeals start from this point.
We obliged by the staff and cleared immigration and headed to collect the baggage. To our dismay the baggage did not show up on the belt. We reached out to the officer at the baggage area and he was very apologetic for the inconvenience (Air India needs to commend such employees who are the real face of the airlines). He arranged for collecting and identifying the baggage. Finally they were placed on the conveyor luggage belt. He also mentioned that a staff by the name Mr. Pillai would be helping us to check-in our luggage after custom clearance is completed by us. He would also coordinate the efforts to arrange for accommodation for the stay until our flight that we would need to board in the morning.
Once we checked-in the luggage, Mr. Pillai instructed and directed us to board the shuttle to the domestic terminal and our lounge facilities would be available to us. Mr. Atma at the international terminal told us that the lounge facilities would be provided at Domestic Terminal. To our dismay, we did realize that all the staff are disconnected and they do not know their responsibility. Firstly we do not see any accountability whatsoever.
We (all the passenger on transit) headed towards the duty officer office at the domestic terminal. We met with him and mentioned to him the instruction we had from Mr. Pillai. Even without leading his ears and having a patience to hear what we have to say, he went ahead and said and quote “I cannot do anything for you, please wait for your flight”. It is at this moment that frustrated transit passengers including me had to educate him on the responsibilities of a duty officer and told him to show some apathy towards the troubles the passengers had to put through.
We requested him to help us out and he told he has nothing to do with the instruction send from the international terminal as his responsibility is only for the domestic terminal. He had the attitude problem and felt his stand was “What is it for me?” Neither of the passengers are his family or friends for whom he should really care. If such people are running the activities of the duty officer, Shame on your airlines. You make India not an “Incredible India” but rather a “Lousely place to begin with”. As an India, I feel very insulting that due to airlines like yours, you tarnish the image of India. I had two foreigner who were part of the complaints we had lodged at your office (not sure even if it was brought to your attention until now, but rest assured, you will find this ordeals on major network and news & social network channels within a week). I had to go an extra step and being apologetic to the foreigners for the failure of Air India.
On yielding to pressure from the transit passengers, we had made the Duty Officer Leedhar Valvi get in touch with concerned authority to arrange us with the lounge facilities. With no one feeling responsible from Air India, we decided to ask the contact numbers of the DM of the International Terminal Ms Devta Kohli.
We shared that to the duty officers that the passenger included couple of senior citizens, one pregnant lady and 2 infants.
Finally one of the passenger got the contact details of the DM of International terminal Ms Devta Kohli and spoke to her. What she shared was the most absurd statement from the head of such a facility and I quote “Your fares do not qualify you for the accommodation”. We are not sure how she could make such a judgment without knowing the passenger particulars. If she feels that the passenger should be stranded since none where her family members, have her suspended from work for her actions.
We also had 2 passenger who were travelling business class who were not being provided accommodation. It is not important whether we travelled Business or Economy. We were travelers on Air India and we shouldn’t be treated the way we have been. Show apathy to the very people who bring business to you and pay your salaries.
Through this letter, we like to see a full investigation into the matter and also compensate the travelers for the misconduct on the part of Air India. We are strongly united to get this issue to the media and Secretaries in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
We also are filing a law suit against Air India at the New Jersey Courts to claim damages for the trouble you have put us through. All travelers who have purchased their tickets via AMEX, VISA, and MASTER CARD would initiate a litigation against you.
United we stand divided we fall. We will see how you respond and treat further customers of Air India.
We anticipate that we would get acknowledge to this correspondence and you will launch a full-fledged inquiry. In our compliant we have provided the contact details of all the affected passengers who lodge the complaint.
We would be releasing the copy of the complaint form in 7 business days if you do not respond to this letter.
Please note that Air India put us through lot of mental agony, inconvenience due to the delays and the treatment mented out to us.

I had a flight booked for 2nd Jan '2013 from Delhi to Singapore ,The flight details are as follows:

Flight No : AI380 timings: 00:05 Terminal 3

It is pertinent to mention that I made the booking on 16thSeptemberand my ticket was confirmed.But When I reached at Air Indi counter at New Delhi Airport ,for checking in my luggage ,I was told that the flight was overbooked and they could not issue a boarding pass to me.And they suggested two options of sending the left passengers to Singapore. Either they could issue a boarding pass and the ticket for a flight via bangkok or another flight that goes viaHongkong to Singapore,which would take 4 hours extra to reach Singapore .
Later I found that they were issuing the boarding passes to the people who had done the web check in. Because the person right after me got the boarding pass.But I was not issued since I had not done the web checkin.

I kept requesting the staff to issue the boarding pass ,but to no avail.And the way the staff was behaving with the passengers was really disgusting.The hassle and the trouble that me and my family bore that day can't be explained in words.I had to reach Singapore the next day at any cost as I had to take an exam.

Considering all the circumstances , I decided to cancel my Air India ticket and rushed to different Airlines counter for checking the
tickets availabilityfor the next direct flight to Singapore.The whole night I spent at Airport and my parents also were in trouble waiting with me till next flight check in formality started. .I literally had tears in my eyes arguing with the Air India staff,but none of them were ready
to help.

I got my ticket cancelled there and then after getting assurance from the staff for the full refund . Also they put a stamp on my ticket for full refund of the amount, I had paid for making the booking.


I have dropped an email to [protected]@airindia.in.Below is the email
that Ihave received from them

> Dear Customer,
>
> Thanks for writing us!
> Greetings from AIR INDIA,
>
> We are processing the refund as per the fare rule against cancelled
ticket. Kindly check your same card account with in 2 weeks for the credit.
> Assuring you of our best services at all times.
>
> Regards,
> E-Commerce/ST
> Air India


The total amount spent in buying the ticket was RS 15,664.00 which was
$366.53 singapore dollars at that time.
Please find the booking details abelow:

Booking Reference Number (PNR) JP8F2
Web Reference : AIBE5391950
Issuing Airline : Air India Ltd.
Issued Date : Sun,16 Sep 2012.

But the email does not find mention about the full refund.It was Air India fault nd they should bear all the penalties and taxes .
What is actually meant by refund will be done based on fare rules against cancelled ticket.

Till today I have not received any refund in my account. The Ticket was booked online and the amount should be credited back to my acccount.

I have spoken to Air India Customer helpdesk in India and Singapore ,but they put you on hold for long and finally you end up disconnecting the phone..Aslo dropped several emails ,but have not heard back on this.

Please take this on priority and help me with a quick reply.
I am really pissed off with the kind of service Air India has been providing .
I will never suggest anyone to take Air India flights.I would rather prefer taking other budgeted Airlines,which atleast don't have this overbooking funda......Really disgusting ..

Even If you have a confirmed flight ticket ,you may not get a boarding pass.




Regards
Loveleen

BELOW COMPLAINTS SENT IS STILL NOT RESPONDED BY AUTHORITIES--PL MAY TAKE UP WITH HIGHER UPS

02nd January 2013

From:
Suresh Soni
Flat no-802/803
A WING THARWANI HEIGHT
PALM BEACH ROAD
PLOT NO.4 SEC-18 SANPADA
NAVI MUMBAI-400705



To:
The Civil Aviation Minister
Govt. Of India
New Delhi

Sub: - Regarding baggage delay and theft case

R/sir,

With due respect, I beg to lodge my complaint with your august office. My complaint is against the Air India for their deficiency of services and illegally transferred our luggage to wrong place and stolen our valuables worth Rs. 1.5 Lacs

The details of my case are as follow:

I along with my 3 family members travelled thru Indian Airlines Flight AI 0671 which was scheduled to depart from Mumbai to Madurai on 28th December 2012. Details of passengers are as follow:-

Name of Passengers: - Suresh Soni, Urmi Soni, Payod Soni and Pawas Soni
E ticket numbers:-098-[protected], 098-[protected], 098-[protected] and 098-[protected]
PNR Number: - YSYPB and HDNQ0
Flight Number: - AI 671
Ticket booked on-16th October 2012
Schedule Departure Time from Mumbai:-09.40


Above Tickets and boarding passes and all related papers are available with us and can be produced if required

Following is the details regarding deficiency of services, illegally stolen our valuables worth Rs. 1.5Lacs and creating mental harassment. Here I want to bring notice that this trip was planned to enjoy holidays and celebrate New Year at Kodaikanal and all arrangements were made according to this trip


1. Trip was scheduled to depart at 9.40 AM and same was rescheduled to 12.40 PM and information of same came when we commenced our journey for Airport. There was no option given to refund the amount and cancel the ticket and we were forcefully travelled thru same flight
2. Flight reached at Madurai around 04.00PM and it took almost 45 minutes to get luggage, we booked three pieces of luggage but received only 2 pieces and that also after 45 minutes. Almost all passengers at that time cursing Air India for such poor service and was creating negative publicity
3. Our mental harassment started once we have not received 3rd Piece of Luggage as no one was there to clarify. Somehow we reached to Duty Personnel Mr. Shahzan of Air India at Madurai Airport and when we inquired about our luggage the candid reply we got is that Luggage is gone to Mangalore Flight and in any circumstances will not reach before next day and one has to come to Airport and Collect the same.
4. Having found Answer totally illogical I tried to Contact Chairman Office and Jt. MD office without any help. Most Pathetic part is that nobody at Madurai Airport was ready to own responsibilities and simply blaming Mumbai Air India personnel. As a Passenger I was talking to Air India representative not individual Person. Moreover he has provided wrong Telephone numbers for follow up.
5. This type of Reply and no ownership forced us to stay at Madurai and spent Almost 25000/- in Madurai and had to bought basic accessories for another Rs. 5000/-
6. On next Day i.e. on 29th December we again contacted Air India Personnel and as we had to move to Kodaikanal for important gathering hence we again requested to send luggage at Kodaikanal without any proper assurance
7. On 29th night at around 8 PM our luggage was delivered at Hotel with one complete cover open and in very bad shape

All tactic played by Air India reflects mal intention and deliberate harassment to customers. I am totally dismayed with such strange, deceitful and sorrowful affairs by Air India and would like to suggest following actions as I feel some employees of Air India Deliberately playing in the hands of Private Airlines and making deliberate attempts to harass customers and making good money by stolen some valuables from passengers luggage. In view of this I am suggesting following actions immediately. Also I want to bring that we changed our mind while booking return flight and came thru Jet Airways with pleasant experience. There is clear reason for Air India to remain in losses as People and processes are not in place for which I can provide free consultancy to improve.

1. Take up this case with CBI and police authorities and conduct inquiry and lodge complaints against employee responsible for such act against ipc 420 as I feel this is intentional effort and clear cut theft case. Also terminate employee with immediate effect
2. Reimburse entire amount of our trip expenditure as our complete trip was spoiled due to this incidence. Same amount can be deducted from the salary of employee responsible for this harassment
3. Reimburse our expenditures incurred due to delay in Getting Luggage
4. Provide our valuables back which got stolen as complete luggage was found as if someone intentionally taken out our valuables else provide compensation for same
5. Provide appropriate compensation of mental harassment which we went thru during this period

Hoping you shall definitely prove a helping hand in my problem. I avail an opportunity in approaching and seeking redress at your end. I request you to be kind enough in taking up the matter at your personal level and favor me immediately needful and a line in reply If you are in opinion that legal proceedings against Air India should only be the last resort for solution, I shall than compelled to take resort to such legal proceeding as per your advice. I am also planning to write to various news channels to create public awareness and give warning to people for travelling with Air India. However I will wait for 7-10 days before initiating any other action which includes moving to Consumer forum also

With profound regards.
Yours sincerely,

(SURESH SONI)

Copy:-. Chairman, Air India
Jt MD, Air India
HR head AirIndia
Alok Sinha,Chief Vigilance Officer
Deputy Secretary

I have sent following mail many times to the below mentioned email id. but have not received any reply from them.


From: Mansi Sawant <mansi.[protected]@yahoo.in>
Subject: Poor service
To: redemptions.[protected]@iclployalty.com, flying-returns.[protected]@iclployalty.com, [protected]@airindia.in,call.[protected]@airindia.in, call.[protected]@airindia.in
Date: Tuesday, 25 December, 2012, 8:56 AM


Sir/Madam,

Below mentioned mail i have sent to many people in Air India. But do not received any help or response from them. Finally I visited yesterday at 3.15 to your Air India office (Nariman Point).
After long waiting I spoke to Ms. Shalaka ( one of your Customer Care Executive) I explained everything to her but she said Air India do not have flights for JFK - London,
and Luftansa also don't have flight for the same sector. After forcing me she reconfirm with Duty Manager. He also replied the same.
But today I searched on net I got multiple flights for the same sector (flight schedule scan copy attached). I don't understand why this so? information given by the Air India customer care person was right or the information available on net is right!
Where will get proper response. Dr. N.M. Dedhia is on Air India panel still so bad response from your side!

Please look into the matter and reply.

Regards

Mansi Sawant

Dear Sir,
I travelled from Trivandrum to Bhubaneswar via Chennai and Delhi. I asked my baggaged to be booked upto BBI at your Trivandrum officer, who instead booked upto Delhi due some link problem. Unfortunately the baggages could not be loaded in the flight we travelled on 26th Dec. 2012. Hence , we could not get the delivery of our bagages on 26 th. My house key, vehicle key , clothes as well as medicines were in those bagages.Hence , I was forced to stay back at Bhubaneswar in a hotel in stead of going back to Dhenkanal , my home town. I have spent lot of money for night clothes for my family, warm clothes as it was too cold in BBSR, to pay the hotel for over night stay . Again next day I had to hire a cab to go to the air port to collect my bagages. I must say similar incident happened with my colleague who was travelling with me. Next day while collecting bagages he was give Rs. 800/- toward night cloth and conveyance but I came back without money as cash was not there. There after I had to run to Air port duty manger Mr. Das twice to settle the issue. I am astonished he started bargain from 350 rupees and ended in 600 rupees which I received with written protest in the receipt voucher. I fail to understand my colleague who stays in Bhubaneswar ( Mr. Anil Das Choudhury) could get Rs.800 , where as I got only 600 although I had to travel further 100 km to reach my native. I was forced to overstay due to your negligency and spend lot of money as the consequence. Kindly look into the matter and do the needful else I shall be forced to take appropriate action due to such discrepancy. My ticket ref. no.[protected]c1 on 26th Dec. 2012 from Trivandrum to Chennai. Besides I must mention , we were 4 passengers with 4 tickets having two PNR no. as Ms. Sephali Tete was travelling with us on a separate ticket.
Thanking you
ncrout
__________________________________
Nirad C. Rout
Natural Products Department
Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology
Bhubaneswar - 751013, Orissa, India
Mob: 91-[protected]
Email: [protected]@immt.res.in

Hi,
I had booked an Air India flight AI-604 flight ticket for mumbai from bangalore on 10-nov-2012. I had booked it online and it was confirmed ticket I had in hand. I arrrived at airport on time.1 hour before the flight departure time. On coming at AI counter for the boarding pass, the staff took the e-ticket and was about to give us the boarding pass. But some other person in their staff, probably some senior, asked not to give us the boarding pass. First it was somewhat confusing. Because they did not convey anything clearly about the situation. When we asked about boarding pass as it was getting late for the flight, they bluntly said we can not give as THE FLIGHT IS FULL. Isnt it weird that when you have a confirmed e-ticket in hand and you have been denied boarding the flight? I heard some incidences related Air India's mismanagement from my family/friends. I thought it does not happen always. Unfortunately, I booked this flight and there it was. Air India at its worst. Staff was so blunt and ignorant, I cannot explain. I had to reach my place in the evening same day. But was at the airport the whole day. The AI people after much shouting and tirade from our group of passengers, they gave us an evening 7pm flight. What the use of this? People like me who had further journey bookings were stranded. I request to please take action against these Air India company for being such rude, ignorant and mismanaging things. They cannot manage the bookings or may stuff more people in the flights with extra bookings inand then remove some at last moment like us. I swear not take Air India flight again. What will happen if a person has some medical or family emergency?

I am a scientist working in one of the established research labs in the country. A recent trend that has become common with all government funding scheme is the enforcement of the need of a certificate from Air India and the compulsion (which wasn't enforced earlier) to travel on by Air India.
The incident happened when I called up Air India office today at 3:30 pm to check if there would consider working over email, as I was unwell and the Egmore office is a 40 km drive from my residence.

I looked up Air India website and found this information: [protected]@airindia.in, 23453301/23453366. I called both numbers several times (atleast 10) and no one pick up the calls. The toll free number seems reserved for BSNL users.
Then I called their office at the airport, maa.[protected]@airindia.in,[protected]/[protected]/ [protected]/[protected] and call was promptly pick up by a gentlemen, who said "Yaaru?" and I replied with my identity and he left the phone with his friend/colleague who said "Hello?" and on hearing my voice promptly kept the phone down and went his way.

Air India seems to put in an extra effort to make customer interaction and service as unpleasant as possible. And the government forces us to work with and travel with such offices/establishments. Am still to get my certificate, guess I need to drive down.

We had our flight tickets issued of 15th November ,2012 Air India, flight no- AI 472 having departure time 2.30pm and arrival to Udaipur city at 3.45pm. The issuing date was 25 october, 2012.
On 15th november we reached the domestic airport of mumbai at 12.30, we checked in at around 12.45, we got our boarding pass for the flight, we were in all 3 people, our luggage was also checked in. Around 1pm we did our security check, and proceeded further after having lunch and waiting for the flight. All the computer screens did not show our flight details , on asking the airport and the air india officials, they said that the screens do not show the updated information all time. After almost an hour we asked another air india official, and he said our flight was preponed to 10.30 and has already left. It was complete negligence on the side of air india officials who could not inform us about the flight preponed. Our entire one day of the tour was hampered because of air india's officials carelessness. They just told us that the given number was unable to be contacted which is just a false statement. Since we were already given the boarding passes for the flights and there was no flight over there, it was again the stupidity of the officials to issue us the boarding passes even after knowing there is no flight. We were later given the flight tickets for next day 16th november for 3 persons. Since i was helpless at that time, we couldnt do anything. Now i would like to claim up for our hotel stay and hampered tour costs of two days from air india.
I would like to claim up from air india a sum of Rs. 25000 for 3 persons, for our hotel stay, and 2 days of our tour being wasted.
Thank you.

HI,
I and my friend had a booked a flight of AIR INDIA the flight no. was AI-688 and the date and timing of flight was 25th nov,2012 and 6:00 a.m respectively from Indira Gandhi International Airport new delhi and we had to go to mumbai we reached the airport at 4:45 and after the entry we were mislead by their staff members itself to stand in which queue as there was no announcement and there was a lot of crwod we changed the queue again and again three times as told by there staff that stand in this queue this is going to mumbai again some other staff member came to tell stand in that queue for mumbai passengers and when we reached for the boarding pass the person sitting over there said boarding is closed and you are late although we were not then they behaved so reudely to us they even throwed away our tickets and then finally they said we will take 1600 rs extra charge and make you sit in 7:00 a.m flight but again due to there so lazy work they missed our 7:00 a.m flight too and then said we will give 8:00 a.m flight.And finally took 1580 rs from us per ticket an gave us a boarding pass of 8:00 a.m flight.
They even embarresed us with no fault of ours made us run through so many counters and gate as all of them wanted money.The manner in which they spoke to us was untolerable and worst thing was they even throwed away our tickets.And not only us there were many passengers who were told that they are reporting late infact the reason why we all were getting late was due to there staff miscommunication and poor management and everyone there was complaining for the same and searching for next option which was given when you pay them.It was horrible experience in AIR INDIA,the worst flight i had ever travelled.Many other things too happened but i have given the summary of all thaht scene.

This time I was flying via JFK to New Delhi on 3rd Nov, 2012 .AI-0102
I was told that food is over and there was short supply of food and hence the cabin crew Anu couldnot provide me any food. She came up with options like continental food which had lamb slices and some vegetables, which i don't eat. Later she offered me her own meal which was too less and also not acceptable- why should I have her food? So a passenger who paid full price / air fare, had to travel hungry - all the way from JFK to New Delhi. I did write a complaint and she said someone will contact me, but no one did yet- 10days are gone. Air India services are pathetic. I even wrote to them that if I am not compensated for this, I will take legal actions., still there is no response from their end

seat # was 39C
Air India services are so pathetic and people are shameless that they take money, make passenger fly hungry and without food and still no one bothers to contact or apologise

Reference -PNR No AI7R2G of Air India Express.
To the above referenced PNR No.(AI7R2G) in the name of Mr.Silsilah Ussaimath Poolakkal was booked using my NBK(Kuwai) Credit Card. Its onward journey on 17th July 2012 from Kuwait to Kozhikkode were cancelled on 04 th July 2012.I have already sent 9 reminders to the customer support of AIE for the re-fund against the cancelled booking with attachement of the reference of cancellation. They simply replied that it has been forwarded to AIE finace section. But so far neither any reply nor any re-fund has been recieved for AIE finace.

Writing from cabin-AI 101. 9.30 pm scheduled flt passengers. 10.40 pm, still on Mumbai ground. Ac not working. Shortage of oxygen. Single woman traveling. Want to know what is the airline wanting to do. Extremely. Sorry state. everyone is hungry.some people even paid 21k for a single seat. Air India should pay refund to all its passengers.

i) Name of Airlines : Air India
ii) Name of Passengers: Balagopal C & Chandrasekharan Nair V
iii)Flight No. : AI-264
iv) Onward Flight No. from Chennai to Hyderabad: AI-545
v) Sector (From, To) : Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai
vi) PNR & Ticket Nos. : HCVJ0 & [protected], [protected]
vii)Date of Travel :[protected]
viii) Ticket booked through Yatra.com
ix) www.yatra.com, Ph: [protected]

The nature of complaint is as follows:-

1. Terminal not intimated: whether domestic or international.
2. Change of timings not informed. Only when we reached the domestic terminal at 1300 hrs was it informed that AI-264 is to leave form the International Terminal and that the scheduled departure has been advanced by 40 minutes.
3. Once we reached the terminal concerned, it was informed at the Air India counter that the flight is full and hence I will have to wait. There were quite a few other stranded passengers as well.
4. On getting in touch with the Air India office, it was conveyed that I will be allotted a seat tomorrow morning to Chennai and that a 'private flight' will take the passengers for Hyderabad at Chennai.

Because of the aforesaid 'miscalculation' by Air India, a lot of passengers have been inconvenienced.

Hi,

I had a very bad experience with AIR INDIA today (26th Oct.). I had a flight from DEL to VNS (AI - 406) at 10.30 am. When I reached the boarding counter at 8.45 am, they were unable to get my boarding pass. They told me that you have already FLOWN on this ticket!!! though I was infront of them.

They sent me to the ticketing counter. First they told me that no its is fine, you go back to the boarding counter. I again went. Again they sent me to the ticketing counter. I went and then they checked the details.

Now, something astonishing came into picture. They told me that its already used. Now what they told me is this(after making me wait very long so that I dont even get chance to board another flight) :

---> I had travelled on 5th oct. (very same flight) That time I had a NO SHOW. So i asked the ticket counter then to adjust against the same and issue me a ticket for the immediate next flight. What they did was, they ADJUSTED against my 26th Oct ticket !! ( I paid extra 2880 rs then)

Now for 5th Oct, its showing as "OPEN FOR USE".

The ticketing counter was very unresponsive and not helpful at all. They didn't allow me to board the flight bcoz of there mistake!!

Here are ticket no. :

26th Oct Flight : 098-[protected]

5th Oct. Flight : 098-[protected]

I travel quite frequently and in the month of OCT, 2012 I had three trips - two of them from DEL-VNS-DEL

5th Oct : DEL - VNS (AIR INDIA)
10th Oct : VNS - DEL(AIR INDIA)

26th OCT : DEL - VNS (AIR INDIA)
4th NOV : VNS - DEL (JET)

Please look into this. They were not even telling me what should I do with the open ticket now. No apologies from them, nothing. Very very disappointed.

Thanks,
Raghib Khan

+91-[protected]

My father was travelling to the US with my mother, who was in a wheelchair. Three "official" AI ground staff/porters asked my father to pay money to each of them to wheel my mother to a connecting flight.
When my father refused, they stopped the wheelchair in the middle of the airport. In a hurry, my father took out a Rs. 100 note. The porters said the minimum charge was 300 Rs. As my father couldn't afford to miss the...

i am a frequent flyer with air india but due to unavoidable circumstances i reached 10 mins late to the airport and was not allowed to board my air india flight from goa to mumbai on 4th october (PNR no. Z531R) at 7:00am. i was going to travel alone with my infant baby. As per rules, i am eligible to get a refund of the amount paid towards taxes. I have been trying to get a response from air india customer care for the past 2 days none of their numbers are answered including the toll free number even after holding the call for more than an hour. pls help me get the refund from air india.

I booked a ticket for my brother in AirIndia Express using my credit card for a journey on[protected] from Dubai-Calicut-Dubai and the booking reference number is GA31TL (amount 1,405.64 AED). And a day before the journey they send the sms telling the flight got cancelled, because of that we bought another ticket in another airline by paying the double the amount. They told they will refund the money, i contacted Abu Dhabi office and Dubai office there was no action from their side, i send the mail for the refund and final reply was on the 11th july telling that they sent a message to the airport to confirm the passenger status and once that is confirmed they will refund. It has been more that 4 months after the flight cancellation and no refund from the air india side. I need to get the refund at the earliest with out any delay, as my time and money is involved in this.

Regards
Omar Fatah
[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

CARELESS ATTITUDE OF INDIAN AIRLINES
I would like to bring in the terrible experience we had on for our flight from New Delhi to Ahmedabad. Our flight was scheduled from New Delhi on 13 July 2012 at 0600 hrs in the morning. We were four family members to board. Myself (Ajay Arora), my wife( Paramjit kaur) and my twin infants ( Devansh and Divyanshi each 07 months old).
Even though we had to handle two infant babies with us we reached the airport before time and checked in at 0450 hrs. We were issued with the boarding pass at 0528 hrs due to rush at the queue. Thereafter we went for the security check of the hand bags. We were made to wait there for another 5 to 10 minutes. After the security clearance we walked to the main exit gate for boarding the aircraft with both o[censored]s loaded with our twin babies and the handbags. The moment we reached the gate they said that they were waiting for us. Then we explained to them that we were stuck at the security check. The other person on duty said that now we cannot board the plane as the air crew will not allow us to. They refused to open the gate and curtly asked us to return and ask at the enquiry counter. They did not listen to our explanation of being held at the security check counter. The staff did not even pay heed to the point that, me and my wife were travelling with one infant each in our hands and the hand baggages too. They only told us that your luggage will be downloaded from the aircraft and be given back to us at the basement area. Devastated we had no other way but to return back to the enquiry area for the future of the tickets on which we were to travel. Moreover I was more worried about my office meeting /conference which I would miss at my Ahmedabad office for which I was travelling. We faced procedural difficulties to return to enquiry counter via security counter also. After reaching enquiry counter we were told that we have to purchase fresh tickets and it is not sure for which flight time get the tickets. After running around for two hours and requesting we were given tickets of 2030 hrs flight the same evening. During this running around my wife was alone handling both the infants with no facility of even a pram or a carrycot at the airport (we enquired but were told that there is no such facility) where as we studied on the net for Indian airlines that care is taken for infants by providing a pram. We sat at the waiting area throughout the day with whatever minimal was available with us. The care, the responsibility factor that Indian airlines has shown towards me, my ailing wife and my twin infants has cautioned me against the poor service, irresponsibility and carelessness of the Indian airlines.
Not only that the flight we had in the evening was late by 30 minutes. In front o[censored]s in waiting lounge we saw the aircrew rather the captain scolding the gate staff for not announcing the flight calls and not even informing the waiting passengers for boarding of the airlines. The same was not even known to captain and aircrew who in hurry went for the airlines in front o[censored]s and the other passengers. After boarding the airlines we came to know that we were given the seats besides the emergency door. With the infants each in our lap somehow travelled our journey still wondering whether to travel by Indian airlines or not in future. We had to travel further from Ahmedabad to our place of reaching point (Vadsar) by taxi at midnight with our luggage and babies in hand paying another Rs 1500/-.
There was another point noticed by us. When we had checked in our luggage in the morning it weighed 60 kg approx. whereas when we weighed the same luggage while checking in at the evening it weighed 54 kg approx. it questions , are the Indian airlines weighing machines calibrated in time, or the show weight at random as per their whims and fancies.
Once the boarding passes are issued to the passenger is it not the responsibility of the airlines to help the passenger and rather wait for the passenger to board the aircraft??? The harassment we faced throughout the day with our infants crying (being uncomfortable at the airport), the time wasted by us at the airport ,the financial loss I faced for repurchasing the tickets, the conference which I missed was a horrendous experience and is unpardonable. Many of my friends had advised me not to opt for Air India but still then i persisted with my decision as i have been flying using Air India for quite a while.
But i am sorry to say that after this incident i would never use Air India for any of my travel purposes. Moreover i would advise my colleagues to opt for some other flight.
For the financial loss of Rs 35,484/- approx and the harassment we faced during our journey from New Delhi to Ahmedabad, I request the authorities of Indian airlines to compensate for my loss.
Break up given below:
Ticket: 8984/-
Taxi Charges: 1500/-
Mentally Harassment: 25000/-
Total: 35484/-
Regards,
Ajay Arora
[protected]

I, Syed Khaleeluddin Ahmed boarded in Air India passenger plane no.AI-615, boarding no.42, seat no.17C originated from Riyadh to Hyderabad via Mumbai. I have lodged a complaint with the Air India help desk with my suitcase bearing no.AI 140426/27 on 17th august 07:40 am. I have been told that i will be getting my luggage on various times by many useless people out there, not responding to any query, giving false promises. I came to celebrate Id-ul-Fitr which falls on Monday(20th august) and all my necessities for the festival are stuck in those 2 carrier baggage. I request all the responsible officials to release my lawful luggage as soon as possible. Thank you.

Hello Sir:

This Aug 15, 2012 morning we were supposed to fly from Mumbai to Goa at 5:15am. The tickets specified that we reach 45 minutes before departure, and were informed the is a domestic flight and were to report at Sahar (Domestic Airport), we reachced the airport at 3:45am for the 5:15 flight. At the terminal we were then informed that the flight is from the Internation terminal (terminal II). Again, this was no where specified that the domestic flight will leave from international terminal. We reached the international terminal at 4:10 am and as soon as we reached there we were told that the flight was closed. On futher checking with the booking counter later we were informed that this flight and all flight for the day were oversold and were provided incorrect reason that the gate was close 60 minutes prior to departure. We had reached there 70 minutes before the fligh and also the printed document from Air India states that all domestic flight we are supposed to show up 45 minutes prior to the flight. We were wrongly denied to board the fligh and now have to buy higher fare tickets to make our trip to Goa.
This is a scam from Air India, where in the over sold position was categgorized as late arrivals when infact we were there 70 minutes prior and also the tickets itinerary from the Air India web site specifically states 45 minutes prior to departure, the company denied us boarding. There were in all 30 passengers along with us with the same situation.