[Resolved]  Indigo Airlines — harassment & security breach

To whom it may concern:

I was scheduled to fly by indigo 6e 345 to bangalore on 26th of january etd 0930 from kolkata.

In view of travelling on 26th of january and keeping the regulatory and stringent security procedures in mind, i reached nscbi apt well in advance with my 4 yr old daughter to avail indigo 6e 345 etd 0930 hrs.

No sooner, i got inside the terminal, i got my registered baggage screened, queued up for check in and picked up my bcs 17e/d with printed boarding gate no 22.

Adhering to the prolonged security procedure single handedly i was through and inside the departure lounge with my child to board 6e 345 much ahead of the boarding time.

All through i was stationed in front of gate no 22 waiting for the departure call and the gates to be opened for boarding.

To my utter astonishment at around 0930 hrs i was intercepted by an indigo ground staff who tried to clamp a “gate no show” on me, whereas, on enquiry i was briefed that the aircraft had left at 0930 hrs.

I am left to allege that if as per aviation norms for a departure of 0930 hrs, the doors should close at 0920 and that too after the ground personnel's confirmation that the tnb (Total number on board) has tallied.

This means the tnb for 6e 345 did not tally on 26th jan, 2020 and the gate point, boarding tally control was surely short by 02 pax, still the sop for departure was maintained by clearing the flight to close doors at 0920 to be pushed back at 0930 in order to maintain the otp (On time performance) at the cost of leaving behind 02 pax and overriding the special security procedures on a sensitive day by not even bothering to off load the baggage of the left out pax thereby causing a tremendous lapse in terms of flight safety.

There were no indigo ground personnel stationed in front of scheduled boarding gate no 22 to assist and redirect passengers to the changed gate which was at the ground level as the incoming aircraft must have parked at the outer bay iso of a nose in parking for the gang way of gate no 22 which must either have been occupied or must have been unserviceable.

The strangest part that astounded me was lack of interest, inapt handling and careless attitude of indigo departure staff who did not even bother to come to the originally allocated gate to even look for the missing pax when there was no announcement, no update on the screen and no indication of availing the reallocated gate. There was no call over my mobile too to track me for boarding.

As a regular air traveler, i am quite sure that indigo would not have decided to accommodate me and my child by the 2nd flight and would have promptly dealt with me as a gate no show pax had the airline would have been right in handling the situation.

Last but not the least, exposing me to a 4 and a half hour waiting at kolkata airport with a 4 year child in all sorts of distress, it never dawned on to the management that i should have been intercepted and should have been extended some hospitality in respect of the child atleast by means of providing a lounge or by offering some refreshments to sustain the harrassment.

I feel, as a bonafide passenger of 6e 345 wherein i have been assured an airworthy seat, i was cheated and the entire flight was exposed to flight safety hazards whereby indigo has willfully flouted meeting the contractual obligations of extending a safe flight to all other passengers as well.

Mere keeping up to the sop and flouting the bcas and other regulatory laid down procedures can rate an airline outwardly the best but it actually indicates and points to a very unsafe airline instead.