Air India — Involuntary shifting of booking without consent leading to forced cancellation of trip

Sub : Unlawful Act by Air India
This is to bring to your kind attention that I had booked seats on flight Delhi- Rajkot-Delhi for 9 passengers including myself for travel on the following dates/flights:

Delhi-Rajkot 24 Feb. on flight AI 885 departing at 07:30 hours
Rajkot-Delhi 28 Feb. on flight AI 2538 departing at 17:30 hours

6 passengers were booked under PNR 99P4TV on 20 January 2026
(VINOD CHANDNA, VEENA CHANDNA, MAHENDRA KUMAR SARDANA, PREM LATA SARDANA, HARISH CHANDNA, SUSHMA CHANDNA, all aged 66 and above)

2 passengers (MRS TANU RAJPUT (DAUGHTER OF Mr Harish Chndna) AND MS DEVISHI RAJPUT daughter of Mrs Tanu Rajput) were booked on same flights on 22nd January)

1 passenger MRS PUNITA CHANDNA (Age 75 years) was booked on above flights on 25th January.

We had planned a Pilgrimage tours to visit Dwarkadeesh, Somnathji temple and Sasan Gir Forest. All arrangements were made in advance and we had paid for hotels, transport, local guide and religious ceremonies (Abhishek) at various temples during the trip.
All passengers were checked in on line on 22nd February 2026 and we were very excited to begin our sojourn on 24th morning.

On 23rd February, I noticed a message on WhatsApp timed at 15:43 hours reading as under:

“Your itinerary for the booking reference 99P4TV has been changed. We regret to inform that your booking on below flight(s) are cancelled
Your original booking
[AI 885/DEL-HSR/[protected]/07:30 hours]
Please find your updated itinerary below.
[AI2537/DEL-HSR/[protected]/1730]
We apologise for the inconvenience caused. For any further assistance, kindly contact the Air India Helpdesk for direct bookings, and for agency bookings, reach out to your travel agent.”

It was quite by chance that I saw this message as, usually, I do not use mobile phones frequently or without any purpose.. Air India Customer care did not feel it important to communicate this on phone. Had I not noticed this, the entire group would have reached airport the very next morning.
Soon after I noticed this message on my mobile, I called customer care at 16:49 hours on 23rd February to check reason for cancelling our booking and rescheduling to a flight late afternoon. I spoke to Ms Rituja who kept my call on hold several times to consult others over a span of an hour. She told me that this flight is cancelled; hence we have been booked on later flight in the day. When I asked about two other PNR which had three passengers booked, she told me that they will travel as schedule in the morning.

I was quite astonished on her statement. For 6 persons the flight was cancelled and for the remaining three passengers flight was operating. I requested her several time to let me speak to her senior colleague, but she always kept me telling very politely “May I place your call on hold”. I started getting nervous and agitated as time was running out. We had booked vehicles from three different locations for drop to the airport and had to inform other members in our group of the exact position.

The above change was not acceptable as we, senior citizens, were not prepared to travel overland from Rajkot to Dwarkadeesh in the evening, arriving at mid-night. We had pre-booked hotels, lunch, dinner and religious ceremonies, as already mentioned and changing that was not at all possible. We had two alternate left; one to cancel the entire journey OR to travel as scheduled. I refused to accept rescheduling, but the lady kept advising that our flight is cancelled and we had to travel in the evening flight. Airline did not even bother to take consent of the passengers before making change, which usually, is offered when flight is delayed for over 3 hours or more. This was clear case of overbooking as we were re-booked on a different flight number and time awhich reflects serious mistake on part of the airline.

Finally Mr Tejas from Air India came on line and told me that due to change of aircraft, we were booked on another flight. This reasoning also made no sense as he did not accept that flight was overbooked. Change of aircraft was not our choice but a reason that Air India was compelled to make.

Since I had very short time left to make alternate arrangements, do packing and inform other members of the group; I asked Mr Tejas to cancel our booking including for three other passengers in order to arrange alternate travel arrangements for all 9 passengers together. The option of three passengers travelling separately was not at all acceptable as we could not risk to allow three ladies to travel on their own and wait at the airport for 10 hours for our arrival. It took another 20 minutes for Mr Tejas to speak to senior staff to get permission to cancel our booking without penalty and we had to cancel return journey as well, as according to him, it was not possible to create different PNR for return journey.

After a marathon 1 hour, 23 minutes call, the seats were released by Air India. Thereafter, we arranged seats on Go Indigo flight for travel to Rajkot on 24th February morning on a fare that was much higher than what was paid to Air India. As Go Indigo flight was leaving at 0540 hours in the morning, reaching Rajkot at 0715 hours, we had to arrange another transport for pick-up and pay hotel for extra night due to early check-in.

Air India is liable for this chaos which costed us lot of money, mental stress and sleepless night just before we were to set on a trip that everyone was waiting for, for a very long time. We seek compensation from Air India for difference in airfare paid on alternate flight that we had to book at the eleventh hour and transport and one night room charges amounting to Rs. 75, 000/- actually incurred. This compensation is far too less than we should have demanded, which is not get for stress and time spent that evening with a sleepless night, courtesy Air India.
We seek justice and refund as mentioned above.
Thanking you, VINOD CHANDNA, Mobile : [protected]