Air India — manhandling of indian passport at goa airport

Address:

MHN. 625, Vaddem, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa, India, Near Vaddem Lake, Vaddem, Vasco-Da-Gama, Goa, South Goa, Goa, 403802

I would like to highlight the recent harrowing experience of air india staff at goa airport on 7thjanuary, 2020.

I was on vacation to goa from dubai and had a return flight on 7thjanuary, 2020. At the check-in counter air india staff ms. Manisha ripped off my passport into two parts - the book was detached from the cover. On checking with manisha how the passport got damaged she mentioned that when she opened the passport it ripped. That can’t be possible because the passport is not a rs. 5 noteboook which will rip when opened and just a few minutes before, the security at the airport gate opened the same passport to check details, how come it didn’t rip at that time. When we told mr. Pradhan (Air india duty supervisor) to check the cctv cameras he just changed the topic to cover for his staff & refused to do so.

After checking with mr. Pradhan and airport immigration authorities, it was confirmed that i could not travel with the damaged passport. I was advised to apply for a new passport. As a result of this my family which includes my wife and two minor children (3 & 10 years) also did not travel.

I was told by air india reservations team that i would have to pay the penalty and no show fees and also fare difference if any for my family. How can i let my wife travel alone with 2 minor children and luggage?

My question is why should i bear all these charges when it is air india's staff fault.

- is it right that i should allow my wife to travel with 2 minor children and luggage especially when our tickets have been booked together as a family?

Detailed below are all of my other loses because of the incompetency of air india staff.

- i had to pay for the taxi back home from airport to vaddem.

- i had to apply for a new passport where i paid rs. 3000 which is an added expense for no fault of mine.

- since they don’t accept tatkal applications for damaged passport i have to wait approx. 20 days for issuance of new passport which is precious time lost since i can’t resume my duty.

- the additional new tickets, penalty and no-show fees have to be paid by me which is very unfair.

- i & my wife had to resume work on 8thjanuary, 2020 and because of this incident both o[censored]s had to extend our leave which is unpaid till the time we resume our duties.

- also my daughter has missed her school days resulting in absenteeism and loss of school work.

On receipt of my passport on thursday 16th january, i went back to reservations department at the airport as advised before to book my tickets. However when i approached the air india reservations in-charge, she mentioned that i was not entitled to free ticket since i had made a formal complaint (I was previously told that i would not be charged for new ticket nor pay penalty charges) and as a result i had to pay rs. 45, 000 for tickets and penalty fees for me and my family.

In conclusion, i would like to request a full investigation in this matter by checking cctv cameras from 4:30 – 7:30 pm on 7thjanuary, 2020 and compensation of rs. 5 lacs by air india authorities for all the mental, physical and emotional trauma they caused me and my family and request for termination of air india staff manisha so that this kind of incident won’t be repeated in future.

The air india authorities refused to help us and we were left hanging with no solution.

I had already sent a registered letter to air india head office in delhi, but till today i haven't heard anything from anyone. Requesting for swift action from concerned authorities since this incident has left me and my family mentally traumatized.

Your immediate action in this matter will be highly appreciated. For any any additional queries please feel free to contact me via email on [protected]@gmail.com.

Attached is pnr copy with mention of damaged passport for your kind reference.

Kind regards,

Savio sanches

Troubled passenger

+[protected]Dubai)

+[protected]Dubai)

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