Air India — Misleading, confusing, and wrong instructions, loss, and inconvenience to passengers

Address:	Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 400601
Website:	www.airindia.in

Dear sir/madam,

Could you please help me to get justice, an air ticket to auckland, and appropriate compensation for the hardships i'm going through because of the misleading, confusing, and wrong information received from air india related to the transit visa for australia?

The confusion created by air india related to the immediate issuance of the transit visa caused the delay and i had to miss my flight to melbourne from new delhi airport.

Before starting my journey from the first departure point (Pune), air india did not check my required travel documents. Probably my ticket was sold to another passenger with premium rates.

Right to information act:
If air india does not have the responsibility related to the transit visa requirements, then:

Air india clearly tell the passenger that its not the responsibility of air india to tell the passenger whether the passenger would need a transit visa to travel through australia.

Air india should not confuse the passengers by saying that its possible to get a transit visa quickly, go by the ola cab and you should be able to get back to the airport quickly and catch your flight.

Air india should not stop the passengers at the airport if air india does not have any responsibility related to checking the transit visa and other travel documents.

Air india staff at the delhi airport confused me, delayed me, and created all the conditions where i should miss my flight to melbourne. I want to know the reason, why did they provide confusing and misleading instructions? I would have cancelled or changed my air ticket immediately if i was provided correct information.

Miss akther, miss neetu kohli, and miss pandey, and the on-duty manager (A lady manager with boy cut haircut) are involved in confusing me and causing the delay. Ultimately, i had to miss my flight.

Miss preeti also delayed me because she did not have the information and she had to hunt for the information from her colleagues for around 40-45 minutes.

संदर्भ संख्या / reference number : wb-idel[protected]
स्थान / location : delhi
फीडबैक प्रकार / feedback type : feedback
श्रेणी / category : others
उप श्रेणी / sub category : others
उड़ान प्रकार / flight type : int
उड़ान संख्या / flight no. : ai852
यात्रा तिथि / date of travel. : 11/may/2016
टिकट संख्या / ticket no. : z1pfd
विषय वस्तु / content : due to the misleading, wrong, and confusing instructions from the air india staff at new delhi international aiport: miss akhter (In-charge), miss pandey, miss neetu kohli, and other staff, i missed my flight and had to face a lot of trouble, loss, physical and mental strain, and lost an opportunity for a job in new zealand. I hope air india understands the gravity and reissues another air ticket to auckland via any other route other than australia on or after may 16th from mumbai to auckland.
स्थिति / status : acknowledged
रिपोर्टिंग तिथि / reporting date : 13/may/2016 11:56


Thanks and best regards,

Vinay d. Bhagat

[protected]@hotmail.com | cell no: +[protected]


From: [protected]@hotmail.com
Date: fri, 13 may 2016 10:34:58 +0530
Subject: complaint: misleading instructions, loss, and inconvenience
To: [protected]@airindia.In

Dear sir/madam,

Before starting my journey to new zealand via australia, i called the toll free number of air india to check whether a transit visa is needed for a new zealand resident to travel through australia with an indian passport. I was told by air india on the phone that i will not need a transit visa.

At the pune airport, only boarding pass for pune to new delhi was issued station that my passport details are not visible in their pune computer systems. I was not issued the boarding passes for:

1. Delhi to melbourne
2. Melbourne to auckland

I had requested for a through check of my baggage to be directly picked up at the final destination, that is, new zealand. The air india pune staff tagged my luggage only till melbourne. At the delhi airport they asked me to claim by baggage and presented me as a "no show" and offloaded passenger.

Ia were not ready to help me in any way. They were not ready to change my ticket.

Miss akther (In charge), on-duty officer, and miss pandey asked me to go to their safdarjung office 1 hour away from the international airport to change my ticket. Where as miss neetu kohli told me to get the transit visa for australia. According to miss kohli the transit visa is granted within a few minutes.

Due to the confusing and wrong instructions, i decided to go to the australian visa office to get the visa. The visa office told me that the visa can be granted only after 3-4 days. Due to the misleading information from the ai staff, i missed my flight.

At the safdarjung office of air india. The asked me write a complaint and asked me to collect the refund from the agent.

They are not ready to reissue another ticket to me. They are holding me responsible for the transit visa issue and for missing my flight to melbourne. I had only rs. 2, 900 in my pocket. They did not care to provide any action plan to provide a hotel for my overnight stay or any kind of cooperation. I had to travel by train back to mumbai.
On may 11th, i could not eat anything till late evening. I will not be able to attend my interview in auckland. I need your assistance to seek justice, reissue of my ticket to auckland via any other route other than australia, and appropriate compensation for the loss incurred and the inconvenience caused to me & my family. I told the duty manager that i am unemployed from december, 2015 and requested her to reissue another ticket for auckland.Instead of helping me, she delegated total responsibility on her junior miss pandey.

Thanks and regards,
Vinay bhagat, mumbai