Air India — flight rerouted and over 4 hour delay with no explanation

This is the letter I originally wrote
The General Manager
Air India
11th Floor
Great West House
Great West Road
Brentford
TW8 9DF

7th August 2018

Dear Sir

Flight AI 113 Sunday 5th August 2018 – Delhi to Birmingham

I write to claim compensation for the unacceptable delay of over 4 hours following the rerouting of the above-mentioned flight via Copenhagen. I enclose copies of our tickets.

My husband and I had flown on a connecting flight from Colombo (AI282) and at no time were we advised of the extension to the onward flight, I did not receive a text message from Air India and neither were we advised of the detour at check in at either Colombo or Delhi. In compliance with your regulations my mobile phone was switched off, but I did find an email sent to my outlook address when I finally got home – copied below.

Air India
Reply |
Sun 05/08, 08:39
Flight Rescheduling Notification...
Dear passenger / Travel partner,
Air India flight AI113 DEL-BHX of 05AUG18 shall now operate as DEL-CPH-BHX, DEL-CPH will operate as AI157D ETD DEL 1305 Hrs ETA CPH 1720Hrs.CPH-BHX will opearte as AI113 ETD CPH 1820Hrs ETA BHX 1915Hrs.
Inconvenience regretted.
AI Tollfree: [protected].
Thank you for choosing Air India.


Regards,
Arvind P.
AI Customer Care.
The entirely unacceptable sequence of events was as follows:
1. No information regarding the rescheduling of the flight provided by any Air India representative.
2. Boarding for A113 took place on time but we were held up and approximately 45 mins later 4/5 uniformed Air India staff (pilots and engineers) joined the flight.
3. No explanation for the delay was given and the flight took off 1 hour late.
4. The PA system from the flight deck was virtually ineffective and after take-off all we could hear was that the flight time to destination would be 7hours 25 minutes.
5. The first time the passengers were made aware of the rerouting was when the captain announced that we would be landing in ten minutes time at Copenhagen – there was no explanation and the majority of passengers thought it was an emergency landing.
6. The 4/5 Air India flight crew left the flight – their seats vacated, and no other passengers alighted the flight.
7. The passengers were given no information as to what happening and finally we were advised that we would be leaving as soon as possible – no apology was offered.
8. Ground staff officials were continually walking through the aircraft and concern mounted for the passengers well being but still no announcement from the Flight deck.
9. We had landed at Copenhagen Airport at approximately 16.45 and finally there was an announcement at approximately 19.30 advising that we would be leaving shortly but the plane did not taxi until approximately 20.45 finally taking off at 20.50. (The Air India flight officials did not return for the remaining flight to Birmingham)
10. Whilst on the ground at Copenhagen we did witness engineering activity taking place on the flight deck and was advised that it was nothing serious and could have been done at any time, which leaves us to question why it was being undertaken at that time.
11. We finally landed at Birmingham at approximately 22.15 (UK time)

The cabin crew were somewhat reluctant to answer any of our question but one stewardess did explain that the plane had been rerouted to drop of a crew and engineer to attend to a plane that had been grounded at Copenhagen Airport so Air India is responsible for considerably inconveniencing it’s fare paying passengers which is totally unacceptable. In line with Civil Aviation Authority guide lines we challenge that the delay to the flight was unreasonable and claim full compensation.

In addition to the extreme inconvenience we also incurred international telephone charges having had to make a number of telephone calls on my mobile phone to the UK (which can be verified) and pay an additional £30 to the taxi company who had arrived to collect us from the Airport. To add insult to injury I requested a toiletry bag and was advised that they were not being given out on the flight – there were inadequate supplies of toiletries in the toilets and no disposable tooth brushes and did the airline really expect passengers to share mouthwash direct from the bottle as no paper cups were available?

All in all we are totally dissatisfied with our first and last flight on Air India and expect this request to receive your full and immediate attention. It is hard to understand that how, in this age of sophisticated communication Air India could be so lackadaisical and disrespectful of their fare paying passengers.

Whilst writing I would also point out that we were dissatisfied with the communications that we received from Air India during our outward flight on 21st July A118 from Birmingham Airport to Delhi. It was only at the Airport that we discovered that we would be flying via Amritsar which delayed our arrival in Delhi which in turn prohibited us from taking advantage of the Air Line Lounge facility and any Duty-Free shopping that we had planned.

We expect an immediate reply and would advise you that we have copied this letter via Email to your head office in India. We demand a completely satisfactory refund and will be prepared to take the matter forward if this is not forthcoming.

Yours faithfully

Mrs B J Parish
I have on numerous occasion chased the complaint via email only to be told that the matter is being dealt with and I am extremely dissatisfied with the bland responses.