I had a return ticket from hyderabad (Hyd) to bengaluru (Blr) by the 19:00 pm flight (Flight no. 6e 357) on wednesday, 13th april 2016 by economy class. I arrived at the rajiv gandhi international airport [rgia] at shamshabad (Hyderabad) at 5:30 p. M. And completed the check-in and security check formalities and had taken the boarding pass (I was allotted seat no. 16e on the flight, boarding pass attached) by 6:00 p. M. I was waiting at the gate no. 25f, which was shown to be the gate for boarding my flight on my boarding pass. Gate no. 25f is located in the basement area of the airport.
At 6:45 p. M., i noticed that there were hardly any boarding announcements or co-passengers around, and i checked with the jet airways official at the counter at gate no. 25f about my flight. He called the representatives of indigo, following which i was informed that the departure gate was changed to gate no. 26, which was located on the floor above that on which gate no. 25f is located.
When i rushed to gate no. 26, it was almost 6:55 p. M., and the indigo officials at the gate informed me that the flight had already left. When i asked the indigo officials as to why i was not intimated about the change in departure gate though i had the boarding pass with me, they informed me that the airport in question was a ‘silent airport’, and that they would announce a change in the departure gate of a flight for a maximum of three times, and that they had sent an sms to me intimating me about this change.
When i checked my mobile phone and found no such sms, the indigo officials informed me that i might not have received the sms due to mobile signal problems in the airport. None of their representatives were either at the old gate to guide the waiting passengers about the change, nor was a call made to me since i already had my boarding pass issued much ahead of the scheduled time of departure. There were also other passengers who missed the flight that day like me because of the poor management of ground staff. If the passengers are missing, the basic minimum they could have done is to check the old counter.
When i asked about the choices available to me next, i was informed that i would be required to purchase a new ticket and travel to bengaluru by the next flight. I had to buy a new ticket costing approximately inr 10, 200/- extra for the next flight scheduled to depart for bengaluru at 9:25 p. M. I was also informed that i had the option of staying overnight in hyderabad at my own cost, and could travel to bengaluru by the early morning flight by paying inr 2000/- and odd. As i had to reach bengaluru at the earliest as i had left my young children at home including a 5 year old daughter, i had no choice but to take the former option, and paid inr 10, 200/- extra over and above the original fare of rs.4110 for the new ticket on the 9:25 p. M. Flight of indigo to bengaluru. I request the indigo authorities to reimburse my total ticket fare of rs.14, 330 for flight from hyderabad to bangalore by economy class for the agony i went through.
My experience with the officials of indigo at the hyderabad airport was very disappointing. They hardly any responsibility in ensuring that a passenger who had checked in and completed the security check and was awaiting boarding while seated in the sanitized zone, boarded the flight in time. Even post incident they very rude in their approach and clearly did not seem to want to help the stranded passengers, many of whom ended up paying high fares to take different flights to their destinations. I request indigo to investigate this further. I request the concerned authorities from indigo to take stringent action against the officials present so that other passengers are not inconvenienced similarly in future, and reimburse my total ticket fare. I have also informed the police outpost at the airport about this incident.
I am also sending a copy of this letter to dgca
