Air India — compensation due to denial in boarding flight

Address:

Ernakulam, Kerala, 683106

Dear madam/sir,

My name is rejo raj and my wife's name is thara george. We live in salzburg austria. We were on a vacation to our native place in kerala from 4th october to 4th november 2019. Sadly, we choose air india for our travel and we had a very bad experience with them.

We were supposed to board the air india flight from kochi to vienna via delhi on 4th novemeber 2019. The kochi to delhi flight was air india flight ai511 supposed to fly at 10: am and the connecting flight from delhi to vienna was ai153 at 14:55 pm from delhi. The flight ai511 was cancelled and a alternative flight ai 466 was schedules on 4th november at 7:35.
We received only one mail regarding the schedule change on 1st october 2019 in which the change was not highlighted and we happened to miss and not read this very important change, since the change was not clearly highlighted.
On the evening of 3rd november when we tried to do a online check-in, it was not possible for us to do so due to some error in the air india website. On 4th november when we reached the kochi airport at 7:30 am, we were shocked to learn that the flight was rescheduled and we had lost the chance to board the rescheduled flight. Without loosing time we immediately booked the next available flight to delhi in order to not miss our connecting flight to vienna. The flight from kochi to delhi was vistara flight uk884 at 9:35 (Which was earlier than the initially planned air india 511 flight from kochi at 10 am)

We reached the delhi airport at 12:55 and we were relieved to reach there on time so that we can catch our flight to vienna. We reached the air india checkin counter at 1:30 pm. Up on enquiring with the staff, we were informed that we could not board the flight without paying a penalty because we didn't board the first flight. We were not informed of any such penalty when we enquired about the same in the air india kochi airport. The penalty had to be paid at a different counter (Which had a very long queue). We told the airindia staff that we are very short of time and begged them to help us such that we can board the flight. The staff in delhi were very rude and not welcoming at all. The counter to pay fine had a long queue and by the time we got our chance, they informed that they could not accept the penalty because our boarding time is over and they would no longer allow us to get in the flight even if the penalty is paid.

We feel there was enough time to board the flight, had the air india staff given support considering our situation. We feel one hour was more than enough to move from the check in counter to the boarding point of the airport had we been not neglected and give proper care and attention.

We would like to raise the following questions

A) why should we pay a penalty for the flight we already booked? We don't understand this at all? This was a just a connecting flight and why missing the first flight should affect on boarding the second one?

B) is it not the responsibility of the staff in the check in counter to help the passengers so that they wont miss their flight?

C) were we denied the entry to the flight to vienna because the airlines sold the ticket to somebody else and our seats were not available (Since we did not board the flight in kochi and they assummed we wouldn't be doing the same for the next one).

D) why could not the air india staff in kochi airport warn us about this situation and helped us because in the kochi airport we had more than enough time to fix any penalty issues?

Due to this, we had to face severe mental trauma. Moreover we had to book a new flight from delhi using turkish airlines. We are asking for a compensation for the flights that we had to rebook from delhi to munich newly.

Waiting for your reply.

Regards,
Thara, rejo

Attached:
Original tickets for kochi to vienna in air india airlines
Schedule change mail from air india regarding the flight from kochi to vienna
Newly booked flight with air vistara from kochi to delhi
Newly booken flight with turkish airlines from delhi to munich