Air India Complaints & Reviews

Dear Sir

I am an NRI. My issue is about non-refund of cancelled IA Ticket. Please see e- mail sent to them. I am not getting response despite reminders. I AM UNABLE TO SEND THE ATTACHMENT SENT WITH E-MAIL BELOW, BECAUSE OF SIZE RESTRICTIONS. APPRECIATE IF REFUND IS MADE URGENTLY AS TICKET WAS CANCELLED MORE THAN 3 MONTHS BACK. THANKS AND REGARDS

From: kambhampati srimannarayana murthy <[protected]@yahoo.com>
To: "[protected]@airindia.in" <[protected]@airindia.in>
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 11:33 AM
Subject: Refund for Cancelled IA Ticket


Dear sir
I have cancelled the following IA ticket on 19th Feb'11 at Hyderabad airport. Copy of the IA ticket cancellation issued by IA is attached. i have purchased the ticket on line and so far , it is 3 months and i have not got the refund to my account.

Journey: Chennai- Kuwait
Journey date: 23rd February'11
Name of the passenger: KAMBHAMPATI /ANNAPURNA VENKATA MRS.
Ticket number:[protected]

Appreciate if you can respond back to my e-mail id the status and when the refund shall be made.

Best Regards

K.S.N.Murthy

I booked six tickets in AI-467 for June 16, 2011 (Delhi to Kochi) amounting to Rs. 41010, from online ticket booking system of Air India. However, during the booking my account with ICICI bank has been debited by Rs. 41035 (Rs 41010 for ticket and Rs. 25/- for service provider) but ticket could not be generated. Now i am continuously trying to follow up with Air India but no body is helping me out.

Kindly suggest me what to do. All the numbers provided by Air India in its web site are of no use.Either they are continuously busy or no giving proper response.

Vikas Agrawal

Subject – Non refund of cancelled ticket fare

Sir/Madam,


We had got our tickets booked through internet and our schedule departure was on 8th May, 2011. However, due to the strike of Air India Pilots, our flight got cancelled and we were informed by the Customer Care Executive (Enquiry No. 1407) that the total amount will be refunded by Air India within 15 days time. However, 25 days have passed, amount has not yet refunded. Details of tickets are as under : -

E-Ticket
MakeMyTrip Booking ID - NF[protected]
Booking Date - Fri, 15 Apr 2011



Itinerary and Reservation Details


Air India
AI-472 Departure
Udaipur (UDR)
Sun, 08 May 2011, 12:50 hrs Arrival
Delhi (DEL)
Sun, 08 May 2011, 15:15 hrs
1-Stop Flight
Duration: 2hr 25m
Refundable Fare
Cabin: Economy


Passenger Name Type Airline PNR
kamal nagia Adult Z543V
kirti arora Adult Z543V



We, therefore, request you to kindly take necessary action to refund the amount.

Kirti Arora
& Kamal Nagia

I had marked the below mail with scanned copy sealed by Air India Official to "[protected]@airindia.in" on 19-May-11 and i have not received a revert for the same.
============================================
D/A:

This mail is regarding the flight No: AI-657 ( Del - Calicut ) which was cancelled on 30-Apr-11

My Mother was scheduled to travel in the flight which got cancelled

Passenger Details:
Name : Kairali Karumat
PNR: Y4E7H

Ticket was issued by me with my Credit Card ending *********5294 ( Name of Card Holder Vineet Narayanan Karumat )

I would like the full refund of the same. I had visited your Mumbai Airport booking counter and the staff over there advised me to mark a mail and she has also mentioned full refund and signed the orginal ticket copy with and Air India Seal

Note: My Credit Card Bill is generated with this ticket cost and my Due Date is 26-May-2011 I need the refund before the same.


Scanned copy attached for reference.



Please do the needful at the earliest and confirm back to me.

I have bokked e-ticket in air india through ICICI bank online banking (bil/[protected]/Siva che/Airindia_mici1 on 27/04/2011) for travel from chennai to singapore on 08th may'2011 (ai358)and return on 23rd may'2011 (ai347) through their website (www.Airindia.In) on 27th apr'2011 and due to name mistake the ticket was cancelled on 30th apr'2011 by sending request mail to [protected]@airindia.In as well as via customer care representative ([protected]) and conformed the same with them later but conformation of cancellation via mail or any sort of message was not sent from the air india people.

However, till date the airline is not granted the refund. I have written so many mails to airline ([protected]@airindia.In and yatrik.[protected]@airindia.In), but neither they are replying to the mail nor responding if I speek to the customer care ([protected], [protected], [protected], [protected]).

The details of the journey is as follows:

name of the passenger : prabakaran lakshmanan
ticket no. 098-[protected]
pnr number : yjmwj
web ref.: Aibe557974
issuing airline : air india ltd
scheduled date of journey : 8th may 2011 and 23rd may 2011
airline number : ai358 and 347
from & to : chennai to singapore (viceversa)
amount of the ticket : rs. 17892
ticket cancelled on 30th apr'2011 online as well as by customer care due to the reason "unable to change the passanger name".

I have made booking from Bangalore to Kolkata for 2nd May but due to the Pilot strike the flight was cancelled.

I have waited for a long time to get the refund and also called customer care many times but i have not received it till today.

Also i am very much displeased with the customer care service.

Could you look into it to get full refund of the ticket. Tickets details are mentioned below:

Booking Reference: Z98CG8 and YYKX0

i have book a ticket from air india, ahmedabad to dubai with one stop at mumbai,,,,,,,,,, my emigration is in bombay,,,,,,,,,,, in the immigration cleareance is not done bue to ECNR stamp not in my passport, so i have to come back, at mumbai airport i conform with the office of air india about the refund of my airfair,,, they inform me k i have to contect my booking agency and told them to apply for the refund,, after some day they inform me that air india refuse to refund due to reason i traved ahmedabad to bombay by flight and that airfair charge is 11,000/- and my total airfair is 9800/- so how they refund my airfair,,,,
my main point is that airlines have to check all imigration process before issuing ticket,,, its duty of them,,,if they check my passport and inform me that my passport dont have ECNR STAMP so i cant travel even ahmedabad to mumbai,, but they cant check it properlyyyy,,,,,,,now they refuse to refund my airfair,,,,,,,
once they cancle my ticket then they issue new ticket,,
while issuing new ticket my connecting flight cancled
they managa to new flight for meee and issuing bording i have a scan copy of that bording,,,
immigration officer inform me that its duty of airindia to issuing bording pass they have to check passport and visa copy then why they issue a new boriding,,,
if airindia follow their duty proper then i cant suffer to come back bombay to ahmedabd
i am sending u my scan copy of ticket and issued bording pass

sir pls help ma and i wont my airfair back
kindly contect my by email or mobile
email add is :- [protected]@yahoo.com
mobile no :- +91 [protected]

I travelled from NeyYork (JFK) to Bangalore via New Delhi on 20th May 2011 with Air India flights details below:
New York to New Delhi - AI 102
New Delhi to Bangalore- AI 504
I had checked two pieces of baggages at JFK to received at Bangalore. I did not receive any of my checked in baggage at Bangalore and complained to Bangalore airport baggage care authorities. I was told that I would get my baagege in 1-2 days. But till now I have not received any information about where abouts of my luggage.

My contact details are below. Please let me know how and when can I get my luggage back.
Name - Gyan Ranjan
Mobile - [protected]
email - gyanranjan.[protected]@gmail.com

Dear Sir,

On the night of 12th May'2011, I happened to travel by Air India Flight AI 802 fromn Chennai to Delhi. On board, along with meals, I got a scratch card to win prozes. When I did scratch it, I was happy to know that I had won a watch worth Rs 4000 as the AVA Company claimed thew MRP around Rs 4000/-. However, they did not gave it absolutely free. I was charged a sum of Rs 599/- as handling charges. As they claimed the watch was of Rs 4000, I agreed to pay that money and got the watch from AVA shop located at Arrival Hall at Terminal 3 of IGI.

My happiness was short lived. I wore that watch only for a day and its sheen started eroding. On searching the net, I got to know that :
1. The watch was a counterfeit (the name itself contain an extra L which is next to impossible to judge for an unsuspecting eye.
2. The value of watch, s claimed by many people and with the quality it actually turned out, is not more than 200 Rs.

So, in nut shell, AVA and Air India CHEATED me by a MISLEADING MODUS OPERANDI OF SELLING COUNTERFEIT WATCH AT A SUM OF 599 AND PRETENDING TO GIVE IT AS A WINNING. Such MALPRACTICE must be stopped and the perpetrator of this FRAUD, should be punished.

Thanks
Gaurav Jain
[protected]

Dear sir/s

I am an NRI resident of MUSCAT OMAN since past 7-8 years
Myself & my wife had a return trip flight (26th april-29th april) confirmed bookings from Muscat to Tirupati by AIR INDIA which was cancelled due to PILOT strike & with lots of struggle & difficulties i was able to reach back to Muscat , but one day late , due to which i had to bear several losses (Rs 39,000 plus) details for which are explained below.

Please find below my compalint email send to Air India officials once i was back to muscat OMAN, but after several reminders & rigrous follwo-ups since past 12 days They have rejected to bear any compensations

Kindly help me clear my losses & claim them from AIR INDIA . I have all the related copies of tickets, CASH reciept of Mazoon communications for OMR 250 paid towards training course on 30th april, letter from Air india stating that Tirupati- Hyderabad- Muscat flight cancelled, Bus travel ticket from Tirupati - Hyderabad..

[protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][pr...⇄
from:Harish Danani [protected]@gmail.com
to:ks.[protected]@airindia.in
cc:[protected]@gmail.com
date:Sun, May 1, 2011 at 7:27 PM
subject:REGRET LOSS with AIR INDIA Cancellations
mailed-by:gmail.com

Dear Mr K S Reddy- STATION MANAGER- Air India

Fyi -Myself & my wife had a confirmed booking for 29th APRIL 2011 along with my wife on your Air India Flight AI 541 from Tirupati to Hyderabad @ 1420 hrs connecting with AI 977 from Hyderabad to Muscat OMAN @1840 hrs for 29th APRIL 2011

It was extremely miserable to book tickets on Air India & be one of your customer as we had to undergo big losses, tremendous pain, agony, mental harassment, professional disgrace & physical fatigue due to the strikes & these cancellations. To ensure our reach to MUSCAT we had reached Tirupati Airport @10 Am for 1420 flight & were waiting endlessly as were given repeated confirmations by your officials that we shall fly by JET AIR to Hyd @ 1645 hrs on 29th (attached AIR INDIA letter) but to our insult & surprise we were not given the boarding pass & some other passenger was given a priority despite our repeated requests to reach to MUSCAT on FRIDAY 29th. We were forced to travel 10-12 hours journey by BUS in late evening (attached Bus ticket) & somehow managed to reach Hyderabad Airport @ 630 AM with severe Back pain, no sleep ,also my wife vomited twice as she has BUS TRAVEL sickness & is still unwell at home. After lots of fight with your counter staff in Hyd finally we managed to get a waiting & later confirmed ticket for OMAN AIR WY236Y @ 1530 hrs for Muscat , for which we are thankful

I had to resume my office for a Board meeting with MD & few principles from JAPAN early morning with a presentation on Saturday 30th April & attend a Special 1-day Technical training course (paid by self in Advance) to be attended on Saturday 30th April

Please find attached Cash receipt slip towards technical training & other losses summary we have incurred during this delay

I had tried to explain this situation to your then Duty Manager Ms Kiran to which she bluntly refused such claims & upon insistence & several request to her for a meeting with you , she kept me waiting for nearly 45 minutes till 1.45 pm at your office entrance door opposite to Toilet door (a zone restricted for non-Airport staff )but finally I left for immigration to Oman Air as I had to board the flight & unfortunately could not meet you

Kindly arrange to do the needful towards my loss claim & please let me know from where & when we can collect the same

Summary of Loss claim due to Flight Cancellations

Comfort expenses @ Tirupati due to delayINR 2,000.00INR 2,000.00
Local travel expenses @ TirupatiINR 350.00INR 350.00
Food expensesINR 450.00INR 450.00
Taxi expenses to Hyd AirportINR 400.00INR 400.00

Technical Training in Muscat on 30th April 2011 (Attached cash Reciept dt 18th April)OMR 250.00INR 29,000.00
Loss of 1 day salary on 30th April 2011OMR 45.00INR 5,220.00
Local medical expenses for WifeOMR 20.00INR 2,320.00

Total incurred Loss INR 39,740.00

Calculation 1 OMR = 116 INR


WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY

Kind Regards
Harish Dananni
+[protected]
[protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][pr...⇄

AIR INDIA FINAL REPLY

fromSR CustomerService [protected]@airindia.in
[protected]@gmail.com

ccKS Reddy <KS.[protected]@airindia.in>,
HYD AirportManager <[protected]@airindia.in>,
TIR AreaMarketingManager <[protected]@airindia.in>

dateThu, May 12, 2011 at 1:44 PM
subjectRe: COMPLAINT -HARISH DANANI
mailed-byairindia.in


Dear Sir,

We are in receipt of your complaint dated 02 May 2011. On investigation we find that there was flight disruption on 29th April and AI941/977 were cancelled due to reasons beyond our control. We are aware that this caused you and family a lot of inconvenience
and sincerely regret the trouble you have been put to.

As far as compensation goes we are governed by DGCA'S CAR regulations which stipulates what facilities and compensation the passengers of such disrupted flights are eligible for..

The Tirupati office has arranged for your surface transport at Air India cost from Tirupati to Hyderabad. We have also authorized full refund of your TIR/HYD ticket.
On reaching Hyderabad Airport at 0730 hours the duty manager has arranged for breakfast before accommodating you on WY 236 of 30th April.. Lunch was arranged thereafter and the scheduled time of departure of your flight was 1630 hrs from Hyderabad.

As per the CAR regulations you are eligible only for meals/refreshments apart from full refund of your unused tickets. The facilities you have been provided take care of these aspects amply and there seems to be no scope for further compensation.

We would like to once again convey our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you have been put to. We would also like you to treat this as an isolated incident ,while assuring you of a more pleasant flight with us in future.


Thanking you,

Yours faithfully

R Siddharthan
Chief Manager(CS)
For General Manager(S&M)
[protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][pr...⇄

Hi,
I was holding booking through e ticket (booking Ref. VT26NQ) by Air India Flight AI 601 for a journey on 29th April from Mumbai to Delhi. On 29th April due to Air India strike AI-601 got cancelled and the Airport Authority Officer stamped on my e-ticket for full refund with a verbal assurance by tomorrow morning full ticket amount will be transfer to your account. Please note that I am following it up since 30th of April and refund is not yet credited to my account. Please do the needful and inform me as well so that I could check my account.

Best Regards,
Sangeeta

Dear Sir,

Please refer to below chain of mails sent to various email addresses given by Air India personals, however after a month of follow up I have not recieved a single reply, I am not sure if someone is even reading these mails, I would like to request you to look into this mater and help me to resolve it.

Hope I will get some solution here...

Thanking You,

Vijay Dhutale

*****************************

Dear Sirs,

It is been long time I am trying to address this issue but not seen a single reply from Air India. Please let me know the higher authorities of Air India to whr I can address this issue.

Thanks

Vijay Dhutale
- Hide quoted text -




On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Vijay Dhutale <[protected]@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I refer to below mail and subjected ticket reference numbers.

After the below mentioned incidence, while travelling I report to your Nagpur airport office about below incidence and they have assured me that the ticket Ref YGLY1 is cancelled and it will not be charged two times, same they have mentioned in the ticket and shown me remark in your system that this ticket is cancelled, I am attaching herewith copy of ticket with the comments from your executive at Nagpur airport office. I was assured that i will not be charged twice for the duplicate ticket

Thereafter I spoke to credit card people and report them about this incidence and understand that usually airlines/merchant will not claim money for the duplication ticket twice, however if they claim twice we have to pay them as it is out of our control.

Now, after a month I have received my credit card statement and observed that air India has claimed money twice. after speaking to credit card people I understand they are helpless since air India claimed money twice we had to pay them.

Hence I have decided to speak to you ABu Dhabi office as I am residing in Abu Dhabi and have asked me to send an email on [protected]@airindia.in instead of [protected]@airindia.in. Therefore I am coping this mail to both the email ID.

I would request the concern person to look into it urgently and arrange to refund payment against said ticket.

Looking forward for your cooperation.

Thanks and Best Regards.

Vijay Dhutale



[protected] Forwarded message[protected]
From: Vijay Dhutale <[protected]@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 8:13 PM
Subject: Request to refund duplicate ticket charges. Ticket references YGLY1 & YZWLX
To: [protected]@airindia.in



Dear Sir,

I refer to above mentioned booking references. Yesterday (04th April 2011), I had booked ticket for Nagpur - Mumbai - Dubai online for 06th April 2011. While booking online there was an error occurred saying your booking is not completed successfully. Therefore I booked it again successfully and received massage also that your booking is done successfully. Thereafter I checked my given email and found booking confirmation for both the attempts. If you refer to both above references it is clear that all the details such as Name of travelling passenger, flight time and no and date of travelling are same. The duplication of ticket is happened due to error occurred during booking. To rectify this problem i had called your call center and visited your Nagpur office today to rectify this problem they have recommended me to send you mail on this mail ID and request for refund or reverse the transaction on my credit card. Kindly consider this request and arrange to refund the charges of one ticket or reverse the transaction on my credit card.

Please be informed that I am travelling tomorrow on ticket reference YZWLX. I would request you to consider the request for other ticket reference i.e. YGLY1.

Please feel free to call me on [protected] before 07 O’clock tomorrow morning or on my Dubai no. [protected] after tomorrow evening.

Looking forward for your favorable response.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Vijay Dhutale

The Erring pilots of the Air India have to be taught a lesson , i mean by privatising the organisation within no time that is ony ultimate solution to teach them a lesson even though the passengers have not opting the air india nowadays, a day will come where in one day they will be n o where, even the air india is entertaining them, it is a national waste, since the private airlines like jet airways, the kinfgisher etc providing a clean, excellent service, the air india have not learnt a lesson is there any middle man involved in this , it is very clear that the only solution is to sack all the pilots and privatise it , why the govt is not doing that, it means the middleman involed , even the politicians are involved, it the great indians means we the passenger s only have to teach a lesson by not heaven sake not flying in this dirty airways, since the other countries coming forward to operate flight with good service and better rates in India, coming to the services, the toilets, the seats etc are so dirty in
Air India, several times the cabin crews used to misbehave with the passengers they don't have a minimum manners also since it is a govt organization and hence the job safety, security they are behaving like rogues, the time has come to sack these culprits and make privatize, and penalize them from their salaries, then they will understand, since younger generation from the private airlines are best masters to teach them, how to handle , and behave with the pasne5rs, , millions of rupees wastage because of theese national burden pilots, staffs of the airi India now the time has come to Take the necessary action . why the govt and the ministry of civil aviation is not taking action it is shows clearly that there is commission, middleman involved it is great, Indian drama, the corruption, what Anna hazare can do for this,

i was to travel from air india flight no. AI765 from kolkata to chennai on 27th april 2011. at around 4.00p.m when i was about to leave for the airport i got a message on my mobile that the flight has been cancelled and please call the customer care for other travel arrangements. when i called the air india customer care they confirmed me that the flight has been cancelled and they can shift me to the next day flight to chennai. i told them that it is urgent for me to fly to chennai today itself then they said that they can only refund the full amount in that condition. i had no choice left other than purchasing a new ticket with the other airline. after reaching the airport i bought a new ticket with the indigo airlines with an increased fare of Rs. 1500 compared to my air india ticket. then i went to the air india ticket counter for the cancellation of my ticket where i came to know that they are shifting the passengers to the spice jet airlines. i told the duty manager that this information was not been given to me in the customer care so that i would not have purchased the new ticket with the Indigo airlines. they just listened to it and had no reply. i want the reimbursement of Rs. 1500 which i had to pay to the INDIGo airlines

I had booked ticket for my collegue, Mr Hirendra Assudani in AI 850 from Pune to Delhi for 26 Mar 11. However i had called up Air India Customer Care (toll free number) and got this ticket cancelled (E Ticket[protected], PNR YFGS2) on 18 Mar 11.
I have tried calling all the relevant phone numbers provided by customer care operator but haven't been able get the refund back till now. I want that the refund may be deposited in the credit ard account through which i made the reservation.

I have booked 2 tickets of airindia on 8 mar 11 through online booking for journey to be commenced on 12 and 13 mar 11 respectively. on 9 mar 11 due to official reasons i cancelled both the tickets which was confirmed by the airindia call centre and their city office of delhi. according to the fare rules if a cancel tickets 3 days prior to the journey an amount of Rs 500/ would be deducted from the fare amount. on 29 apr 11 i received the refund in my account approximately one and a half months of cancellation and in that also they have deducted Rs 750/ on each ticket and finally refunding Rs 500/ less. i am writing the details of my tickets below and would like to know about the cancellation when it was confirmed to me that only Rs 500/ will be deducted on each ticket.

PNR NO WEB REF NO TICKET NO SECTOR DATE
YV7MP AIBE97214 [protected] JODHPUR-MUMBAI 12 MAR 11
YVB4N AIBE97446 [protected] MUMBAI-BANGLORE 13 MAR 11

Flt Lt Tarun Pandit
ph no [protected]
email: tarunpandit.[protected]@gmail.com

This is to bring to your notice that I travelled by Air India from Mumbai to Ranchi on 22nd April 2011 and on reaching home (Rourkela, around 4 hrs train journey from Ranchi) I was shocked to discover that my luggage had been tampered with. The polythene bags inside my suitcase were torn and my gold chain worth of Rs 7000 was missing.The saree worth Rs 2000 inside the the polythene bag was also cut as we believe some sharp object had been used to cut the plastic bag inside my suitcase to figure out what is there inside.



I immediately contacted the call centre of Air India regarding the same, but the telecallers did not give a satisfactory solution and asked us to contact the airport authorities.


I went and contacted the Ranchi Airport Manager Ms Baghe on my return from Rourkela, who was absolutely cold and non-helpfull and simply redirected us to Station Manager Mr Pramod Bhuiyan. Neither of them payed any attention to our compliant and harassed us by shuttling among themselves.


We kept asking the security guard to meet Mr Bhuiyan for around 20-30 mins, but they didn't allow us instead a shabby looking person communicated us to go back to Mrs Baghe.We also spoke to the Marketing manager of Air India at Ranchi airport asking for help but he too cut a sorry figure saying he cant help us as he is just a marketing manager.It was an utter harassment as we were made to contact from one person to another.It is an utter dismay that our national carrier behaves so irresponsibly with it's passengers.



Would urge you to look into the matter as this incidence has zeroed my confidence on Airport authorities about the safety and security of passenger’s luggage.It is highly unbelievable that such a thing can happen with the passengers luggage.


Earlier during check in at Mumbai airport we had insisted on the scanning of our luggage and sealing it but the staff told that it would be done automatically on the conveyer belt. This so called high tech implementation of online scanning of luggage is more for the convenience of the thieves than for the passengers.


We were left stranded at the Mumbai checkin counter for over 30 minutes saying that the system is down and our ticket series is not being accepted by the system.I have never had this kind of experience with any other airline.On top of that the ground staffs of AI are extremely rude.



My experience with Air India has been the worst experience with any Airline.

Firstly being stranded at the checkin counter, followed by things being stolen from my luggage and to add to it, the unprofessional, cold and non-coperative attitude of AI authorities.


It is highly improbable that I would be flying with Air India ever again or even refer it to my colleagues/friends/relatives.I must admit it is our mistake for flying by Air India despite other options that were available.We will never ever repeat this mistake again.



I do hope that some concrete and desirable action would be taken against this complaint.

Dear Sir,
This is with reference to the subject matter.
I had booked my round trip air ticket of Air India through "make my trip" from 29th March,2011(AI647) to 15th April,2011 for Mumbai-Jamnagar-Mumbai.

Airline PNR No.YRNL9,
Passenger details: Mr. Jitesh Narshi Kansara
Mrs. Punam Jitesh Kansara
Mstr. Shashwat Jitesh Kansara

For Mumbai-Jamnagar on 29th April it was fair.
While returning on 15th April,2011 on the way I got a phone call from Air India that my flight AI648 was rescheduled at 14.15 hrs instead of 11.45 am.
But when I reached the Jamnagar airport, more surprises were waiting for us. As the time passed, departure time was announced by the staff successively 15.00 hrs,
15.30 hrs and so on. The flight AI647 arrived at 16.20 hrs and departed at 16.45 hrs. Meaning, it was late by 5 hours !
From Mumbai I had my connecting Emirates air flight EK0503(15th April 2011, 19.00hrs) which I obviously missed as we reached the boarding counter at 18.30 hrs.
During my conversation with the staff at Jamnagar airport, I found very rude and non-cooperating. They were not even taking any responsibility!
To make formality they passed message to Air India Mumbai duty manager. But when I reached Mumbai I was sent here and there to find the duty manager for around
1.5 hrs from counter to office and vice-versa, but I didn't fine him at all !
The people at office and boarding counter were behaving as if I had made mistake to travel with Air India ! After that I had no chance except rebooking my emirates
flight of 17th April,2011 as there was no other flight next day even. I did it with 1210 INR per ticket excess fare..
I had to stay in Mumbai for two nights without any business which did cost me of around 5000 INR.

My humble request to the authorities of this website/forum is to take up this matter to the Air India authorities and kindly ask them for the applicable compensation.

For reference, I am attaching my Air India booking along with the re-booked emirates ticket and excess fare receipts.

I am sure that my complaint shall be taken seriously and I shall get the results..

Anticipating positive results,

Jitesh Kansara

Dear Sir,

For the past few days I am distressed since my daughter working in Bangalore traveled by Air India flight AI 502 from Delhi to Bangalore vide tkt confirmation no YBXPP on 11 April 11. On reaching Bangalore she discovered that her baggage comprising of one in number large sized VIP suitcase made of red colored synthetic fiber had not reached Bangalore in the aircraft. She lodged a complaint at Bangalore airport vide complaint no AI 690552. The baggage has not been found till today. My daughter , I and my wife are deeply distressed since during the visit all her personnel belongings were purchased anew with painstaking market survey and huge expenditure, to be lost in one go through the callous handling by Air India staff. We have been given to understand that damage claim would be filed after 10 days. I spoke to one Mr Manju , a senior executive of the lost and found section at Bangalore airport on phone number [protected]. He informed that the damage claim would be filed by them through the airport manager and forwarded to the Chennai Office for realization. I sincerely hope this the procedure. I request the consumer forum to advice/assist me in realizing the damage claim. Regards. Commodore SPS Bhatti. Indian Navy

Dear Sir,


I am writing this mail to seek justice for the mental and financial harassment meted out to me by AIR INDIA. My name is Alok Nigam and I am living in Hyderabad. On 15th April 2011, I was to travel to Mumbai to attend an interview for my MBA admission. I planned my travel well in advance and hence booked a return ticket with AIR INDIA on 19th March itself. I made my reservation in the 15th April morning flight (AI 964) having scheduled departure time of 08:45 AM. Just one day before my travel date, i.e. on 14th April, I got a call from AIR INDIA call center stating that my HYD-MUM flight has been rescheduled to 04:15 PM (a delay of 7 hour 30 mins). The person gave me an option to either retain the same flight or alternately opt for a 8:15 AM flight for Mumbai. Since I had my interview at 2:00 PM, I had no other option but to agree for 8:15 AM Air India flight. I asked the caller to send me the new ticket to which he assured me that my reservation has been confirmed and I don't need to present any new ticket at the check-in counter. He told me that my current ticket will suffice the purpose. I sensed no harm in his promise as I have experienced similar situations in my previous travels with other airlines. On 15th morning, I reported at the Air India check in counter at 7:30 am. The person at the desk asked for my ticket and entered something in his console. After few entries he told me that sir you need to wait for a while as he needs to check something with his colleague. Few seconds later, he asked me to accompany one of his colleagues to another AIR INDIA counter. Till this point, the situation was anything but alarming. But as soon as I reached the other counter, I saw a group of around 7-8 fellow passengers arguing over some issue.The person on the counter asked the Air India guy accompanying me to put 7:45 am on my ticket to which I objected and said that it's clearly 7:40 am right now. I could not understand why is this person asking for time and not issuing the boarding pass directly.

It was then that my worst nightmares came true.The person over the counter told me that I cannot be issued a boarding pass as I am late by 10 minutes (the minutes which I spent waiting at previous counter). He simply refused to acknowledge my request. I did mention that I have a crucial interview and there are still good 35 minutes to the departure of flight. A few individuals joined me at the same counter and I realized that all present there, the ones who came before me and the ones joining me, were all in the same boat as mine. We all were being denied the boarding pass citing different reasons, mine being 'late reporting'. As the stakes were really high for me, I apologized for being late and requested him to kindly consider my situation but the person simply refused. The arguments of the people present there slowly turned into a brawl and it was then only the person at the counter erred to admit the real cause of the situation.

Mistakenly, he made a offer to all o[censored]s present there, saying " there is just 1 seat available of 8:15 AM flight... so only one of you can get the ticket. you decide whose is the gravest situation and I will issue him the ticket". Here came out the actual reason for this situation " 20 people of 8:45 AM flight were promised a confirmed ticket on 8:15 AM flight where as only 5 tickets were actually available on it " (I have taken these numbers to explain the situation). So the situation can be summed up as:

1. Air India postponed the 8:45 AM HYD-MUM flight to 4:15 PM.
2. Say there were 20 bookings on this flight and they called up all these 20 people and promised a confirmed ticket in 8:15 AM flight.
3. Having no reason to sense any foul play, we passengers arrived at the airport to board the flight.
4. Actual the number of seats available on 8:15 AM flight were far less than that promised to us
5. To tackle this situation the Air India airport staff employs different tactics:
a. offering 4:15 PM flight and a hotel accommodation for the in between time
b. giving excuses like you are late or your phone was switched off when the call center called to inform you.
c. take full refund and go home
6. Nothing of this worked as most of the people there had a valid reason to be there in Mumbai and no one wanted to opt for the evening flight.

I tried to convince the Duty Manager also. He simply kept quiet to our requests and later left to never come back to address the situation. It was not the kind of the start one expects on one of the most important days of his life. These were about 40 minutes of persuasion, requesting, arguing, shouting and speaking for me. But it was all falling on the deaf ears. The whole problem was actually a "Planning and Operations" Blunder on the part of Air India. When it was already 8:15 AM and nothing seemed to be working out for me, I requested them to make an arrangement in any other airlines. The answer to this, i must say is one of the most unfortunate excuses I have ever heard. The person belittled me by saying that you have booked a "CHEAP FARE" ticket and you cannot expect to get this treatment from us.The duty manager too (over phone) told me the same. It was disgusting to say the least. Did I ask for any favors from AIR INDIA? A ticket was available at some stated price on a website a month ago, and I booked the same. Where was I at fault? Did I beg Air India for a discount or a free ticket? It was a pathetic experience at the AIR INDIA check in counter and I was emotionally drained by this horrendous experience I had in this one hour ordeal of mine.

Having such an important interview, I had no other choice but to book a Jet Airways 10:00 AM flight on my own expenses. It was a Rs. 4351 ticket and I attribute this as a monetary loss subjected to me due to the flaws in planning and management of AIR INDIA. It was nothing less than a conspiracy to hide their own ineffectiveness in delivering the services to the customers.

Having told a long story above, my ordeal doesn't end here.I had a return 8:00 PM flight from Mumbai to Hyderabad. This flight was rescheduled at least 4 times i.e. the call center first informed me that it will depart at 9:00PM instead of 8:00PM and then later I was again told that the departure will be at 8:30 PM. The final departure time, as informed at the check in counter was again 9:00 PM and the actual departure took place at 10:20 PM. But even this departure, taking place 1 hour 20 minutes behind the scheduled departure time was not as smooth as it sounds. The e-ticket issued to me had no mention of terminal name in it, neither does the website informs anything about it. Having experienced all that mentioned above in the morning, I decided to play safer and reached the domestic terminal at 7 PM i.e. 1 and half hour in advance ( at that time I knew departure to be at 8:30 PM). The staff at Terminal 1B of Mumbai domestic airport directed me to go to the Terminal 1A where from all the AIR INDIA departures take place. I walked this distance in the anticipation that this would be the final hassle. But I was wrong, the police personnel at the Terminal 1B didn't allow me to enter and informed me that this flight actually leaves from International terminal which is situated a good 7-8 kms away. To verify this, I contacted the AIR INDIA window outside the Terminal B1 and the person told me the same. I asked him how one should make out this from this ticket, to which he had no answers.To my surprise, without even me making a mention of it to anyone, there were a group of auto wallas waiting at a distance who made me an offer for a ride to International terminal for Rs 500. I had no other option but to negotiate and give in to their demand. I paid a whopping Rs 300 for this ride to international terminal. All this while I was doubting myself for not able to make out the correct terminal and I still fail to understand that how one can make out from the flight number 'AI 50" that this MUM - HYD flight will actually leave from International Terminal. But my self doubt got cleared only when I met many, yes many other people in the aero bus (bus from Boarding gate to flight) who all were not just fellow passengers but also the fellow sufferers of the same riddle.Thanks to almost negligible instructions from AIR INDIA on the tickets, we all paid exorbitant and unjustified sums (ranging from 150 - 550) to these opportunist auto rickshaw guys. This explained why the auto wallas outside the domestic Terminal B1 were already aware of my dilemma.
Finally the boarding did start at 9:20 PM (20 mins after the scheduled departure) and we boarded the bus from Gate no 4 of International Terminal. And there came the real surprise. The bus actually drove us back to Domestic terminal. Yes, a 'back to square one' situation.

Sir, I don't know whether to laugh at myself or to cry but I felt like Air India has made a joke out of my situation. At the end of this highly eventful day, I was physically and emotionally drained. I was emotionally harassed by Air India. In the morning, I was literally in tears and the treatment given by the Air India officials at Hyderabad airport rendered me mentally strained. It all threatened my career prospects as I was supposed to be in the best of my mental state to appear for my interview. I am sure, my fellow passengers experienced the same amount of pain, one of whom was accompanying his ailing wife and had a doctor appointment in Mumbai. I saw him travelling in the same Jet Airways flight as mine.


Few questions at the end:
1. When you are saying that I am late and that's why I can't be allowed to board the flight, how does that explains only 1 seat left in the carrier?
2. If there are people like me who are late, why are not as many seats vacant in the carrier as no of people waiting to board.
3. One weird explanation came from a employee that since I was late, my ticket was given to a Wait listed Passenger. This concept of WL tickets in airlines was a surprise to me.
If assumed to be true, it presents an interesting riddle here. If at all it exists, how come AIR INDIA issued a ticket to a WL person before the actual boarding time closure? They should wait for the confirmed passenger to come. And when it is closing time for Boarding, a boarding pass can simply not be issued to anyone, be it a WL or a confirmed guy.

Sir, I request you to kindly look into this situation which has left me both financially and emotionally traumatized. I request to to kindly inquire this matter and punish the people who are responsible for this mis-management which brings bad name to the whole organization. I request you to instruct the relevant department to take up my case and compensate for my financial losses atleast. I seek a compensation for my air travel from HYD to MUM and for the auto fare i had to shell out extra for the mis-communication on the part of ticket issuing authority of AIR INDIA. I seek a compensation of INR[protected] + 300) and an action against the people responsible for this situation of mine and many others.

Other Required Details:
HYD - MUM: Filght No. AI 964 PNR: YSNGD
MUM- HYD: Flight No. AI50 PNR: YSMQ3
My Jet Airways Ticket details: Flight no 9W 458 PNR: FQODNX

Many thanks for your time and consideration. Looking forward to your response.

Regards,

Alok Nigam,
Mob. [protected]
email: [protected]@gmail.com