Air India — Unacceptable service/refund request

Address:

Hotel Westend Inn, NH-8, Adjoining Shiv Murti, Rangpuri, Mahipalpur, New Delhi-110037

Dear Sir/Madam,

My family were on a flight from Surat to JFK on February 18/19, 2023.

We received an email and text just before leaving Surat that our flight from Delhi to JFK had been delayed for over 15 and half hours. We understand that this type of delay is rare but can happen.

Due to this delay we were to be provided with accommodation at a hotel. We were taken to a hotel by the name of Hotel Westend Inn (NH-8, Adjoining Shiv Murti, Rangpuri, Mahipalpur, New Delhi-110037). We were told by Delhi Air India ground staff that food and water would be provided at the hotel at no charge, but when we reached the hotel, the front desk said they would not, and all food would be chargeable. We were then allocated two rooms, 115 & 119 respectively. When we went to the hotel rooms and opened the door the rooms were not in acceptable conditions. There was food and stains on the wall and headboard. The rooms smelled moldy. The bed sheets and pillowcases had stains on them as well. We also saw a mouse running in the room 115 during the night. The rooms were very cold and there was no heat. I spoke with the front desk clerk and explained the situation and asked to speak with an Air India representative. He was rude and that he did not have any Air India representative that we could speak to and there was nothing he could do.
I went back to the room and tried to reach out to Air India customer service about our concerns via phone as no contact information was provided by Air India ground staff at the airport. I tried but, they could not help us to resolve the situation as they said this was the responsibility of Delhi Air India ground staff.

We were left with no other options and had no choice but to stay.

I did speak to the General manager in the morning via phone, but he also said there was nothing he could do.

This hotel was not acceptable by any standards and should not even be used by Air India. It shows a poor reflection on Air India and its lack of respect for its customers. I have also provided pictures of the rooms and hotel conditions and I hope someone from Air India would go to the hotel and see for themselves the conditions.

I am also very disappointed with the lack of response. Someone from Delhi Air India should have been available to address our concerns and we should have been shifted to a better hotel. We should not have been put in this situation in the first place. Many of the passengers also had our same complaints.
As an Indian family living in the USA we still want our country’s main airline to be successful and we want people to have wonderful experiences. This was the worse conditions my family have ever experienced flying with Air India.

We would like to receive a full refund of our four airline tickets for this leg of the trip and compensation for the pain, suffering and inconvenience we endured due to the lack of care and support for your customers.

I hope to hear back as soon as possible from someone not like the response we received at Delhi.

Thank you

Regards

Rajan Ghayal