[Resolved]  Ethiopian Airlines — Illegal Detention of aged female passenger

The Director
Airport Authority of India
Delhi.


SUB: COMPENSATION AGAINST HARASSING MY MOTHER (Passenger)


Respected Sir,


I am Deepak Rastogi staying in Rohini Delhi for 20 yrs & my sister resides in Lagos Nigeria since 13 yrs. My mother Mrs. OMWATI RUSTAGI (Sr. Citizen) wished to visit her daughter there. I bought a to & fro airline ticket (Ticket No – ETKT 071 [protected]) for my mother (aged 66 yrs) for Delhi – Lagos – Delhi via Addis Ababa of Ethiopian Airlines on Jan 13, 09. Her departure date was Jan 25 & return arrival date was May 10, 09. As on Jan 13, her return flight schedule was as such –

ET 900 – Leaving Lagos May 09 1315

Reaching Addis Ababa May 09 2045

ET 604 -- Leaving Addis Ababa May 10 0040

Reaching Delhi May 10 0900.


In the meantime in February, timings of ET 604 altered slightly i.e. preponed by approx an hour. This slight alteration changed the departing date from Addis Ababa from May 10 to May 09. There was no official intimation of this changing from Ethiopian Airlines to us. Still when I got aware of this changing from other source, I called up Ethiopian office (Ph –[protected] in April last week to confirm. They confirmed & told everything has been corrected in computers & now nothing to worry.


While returning back on May 09 from Lagos, my sister arranged Boarding Pass for my mother for both flights comfortably; and everything was correctly in place till now. After brief halt at Addis Ababa, when on May 09 night when my mother was trying to board ET 604 (with all valid papers in place), she was denied forcibly without giving any reason. She was helpless & aghast by such unexpected ruthless attitude by Ethiopian Airlines staff. She immediately called me up in Delhi India (at her own expenses) & informed me this incident in brief. At midnight here, I was shocked in disbelief. I called my sister in Lagos & intimated them; but even they had no clue what to do. I called up subsequently at Delhi Ethiopian Airlines office, but no concrete response from them. Later anyhow, my brother Vikas in USA was able to find contact no of Addis Ababa office & was able to trace our mother in Hotel Axum there. We spoke to mother & found that she was mentally exhausted. She also told that while coming from Lagos she was not provided any blanket in airline; this made her unwell & feeling very disturbed.



On next morning, when I called up Ethiopian Airlines Delhi office to check out the reason for all this their staff had no clue & started making excuses like reaching late or change in date. In the meantime Ethiopian Delhi staff told me that they have received only one of the 2 bags my mother was carrying. And, told me that other smaller bag might be reaching (not sure) on May 11 morning alongwith. Then when I called up their manager Mr Solomon at [protected] & made him aware of this whole tragic incident & asked him genuine reason, he told me he will into this & let me know soon. Two hours later when I called him again, he admitted their mistake & promised compensation as per Ethiopian Airlines policy.



Then immediately on May 10 afternoon, I anyhow traced Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa office contact no ([protected]). I called up there at 3 pm and spoke to their manager Mr. Fartada. After realizing details of this incident, Mr. Fartada gave me the reason behind this incident that number of passengers exceeded no of seats & so they had to offload 4 passengers. He promised me complete care of my mother and compensatory coupon o[censored]S $ 300 (200 if encashed). In the meantime, we (myself from Delhi, sister from Lagos & brother from USA) had made several ISD phone calls to Mummy in hotel in Addis to pacify & support her to come out of this frightful experience.



By late evening at 9 pm IST, nothing had been committed as promised. My mother was given sub-standard food & sub-standard facility. Shockingly when I called up again at Addis Ababa office, Mr. Fartada was not in office (off duty) & neither had he conveyed any message to their staff regarding this. In his absence, supervisor Mr. Abdul Qadir bluntly refused me any compensation. At night when my mother reached Addis Ababa airport to board flight, Abdul Qadir told her that if she wants promised compensation, she will have to stay additional 24 hrs & meet Mr Fatada (Mgr) personally. This is horrifying & dreadful attitude.





Till May 11 early morning Ethiopian Airlines Delhi office was not aware of exact status of our missing baggage (Bag tag no – ET994776). After receiving my mother, we went to Ethiopian Airlines office for Compensation & Baggage details. Now we tried several times to contact Mr Solomon, but he avoided us. Till now, there was no confirmed whereabouts of our other baggage. They told hopefully missing baggage might have been dispatched mistakenly to Mumbai.



Ethiopian Airlines has harassed us extremely. Their staff at Addis Ababa had worked very callously. Atlast, we want compensation for both –
(a) Detaining mother (Sr citizen) forcibly at Addis Ababa (midway) for 24 hrs
for no genuine reason.
(b) Delayed delivery of Baggage by more than 60 hrs.

We want Airport Authority of India to intermediate, take immediate action & penalize Ethiopian Airlines for their irresponsible handling to avoid inconvenience to other Indian passengers in future. This has confirmed their utter ignorance towards aged female passengers traveling alone. All o[censored]s have been terribly mentally tortured since last 48 hrs. We want compensation of minimum encashable US $ 500.


Thanking you
Awaiting reply

Deepak Rastogi
38, Loknayak Aptt, May 11, 2009
Sec -9, Rohini, Delhi.

Ph – 47019050, [protected].
Email – [protected]@gmail.com, vikas.v.[protected]@gmail.com