Jet Airways — Mental harresment on hand of ground staff of Jet Airways

Sir/ Madam, I am writing this letter to give an account of the mental, verbal and emotional harassment faced through the hands of the ground staff Jet Airways, on 9th Sep 2015 at IGI, New Delhi Airport. We were supposed to board flight to Singapore (9W 018), departing at 10:00am. As per the requirement, we came 2 hours early (8:05am) at the counter. It took us 30 minutes to get at the counter for check-in, as the staff was busy chatting to each other and over the phones. It was already 8:35am and this is where our horrible and traumatic experience begins with Jet Airways. Series of Incidents: 1. First, the exceptionally confused staff Manish (on Row M) left us un-attended on counter and came back after 5 minutes. After providing him with our Passports, the first thing that we were asked was the hard copy of our visa. We explained to him that we don't have one with us, since it's an e-visa. 2. This is when Jet Airways' Supervisor, Shaziyah, intervened and started arguing with us, claiming that she won't issue us with boarding pass until we have a hard copy of our e-visa. When we questioned her claim, she also passed remark on us in Hindi – “Main bhi dekhti hoon Immigration aapko kaise jaane deta hai! 9 baje ke baad main waise bhi aapka baggage accept nahin karoongi!” It was already 8:50am by this time. 3. We requested them to at least issue us with the Boarding Passes and let us deal with immigration regarding hard copy of our visa, since we had the soft copy of it in our email. Thankfully, they agreed and started to scan our Passports to issue boarding passes and came up with ANOTHER issue! 4. This is where the ground staff Manish claimed that as per her passport, our 2-year old daughter does not have a valid visa to travel to Australia. We explained to him that it's not possible, as we were returning to Australia after 2-weeks holiday and our visa is valid till June 2016. We also showed him the copy of 'Visa Grant Notification' for our daughter in email on our phone. And here again we were encountered by another 'brilliance' of the supervisor supervisor Shaziyah to check our daughter's visa grant letter. We were shocked to hear when she claimed that our visa starts on 05/06/2016, which shows her lack of knowledge to read a visa notification. She disregarded the Visa Grant Letter which clearly states visa number and grant date, and declared that our copy of visa grant notification states, so we are not allowed to travel to Australia till then. Please keep in mind here that this is when our visa expires and we are on a return flight. It was already 9:05am by now! 5. After requesting over and over again to guide us what should we do to prove that we have a valid visa, the staff told us that they cannot do anything because the visa is not appearing on their computer system. We were told off by the staff that this is a problem at our end and we have to sort it out ourselves. We were completely strangled and stressed, as we could see that we will miss our flight. Feeling completely harassed and abused by the airline staff, we had another remark from Shaziyah here – “immigration mein jaa kar kya kar loge, wapas toh yahin ana hoga! jaa toh paaoge nahi aaj!”. We decided to go to the Indian immigration counters at the airport to seek their help, however, they clarified to us that it has nothing to do with them and the airline needs to sort it out with us. It was 9:15am by now! 6. Realising completely helpless, we returned to Shaziyah's counter and requested her again if she can guide us in any way. She came with her typical reply – “I can't help you!” Then we had one of the Duty Manager – Abhinav, who came to counter while being over the phone and checking with Shaziyah about the situation. Once he was done with his call, he advised us to call Australian High Commission to sort the matter out. 7. We called the Australian High Commission in New Delhi, India and explained the whole situation to them. They quickly asked us for our daughter's Passport and Visa details and confirmed that we have a valid Visa for our daughter, and she CAN travel to Australia. They also confirmed that the airline staff should have called EOC to confirm it, if it wasn't showing up on their system. It was already 9:35am by now! 8. Completely frustrated with Jet Airways staff's (Manish, Shaziyah & Abhinav) arrogance, lack of procedural knowledge and un-willingness to assist their Customers in time of despair, which costed us our flight to Melbourne, Australia, we decided to go to another Supervisor on different row (Row B). 9. Here we met Anukiran (supervisor) and explained her the whole drama and what she needs to do to confirm our daughter's visa VALIDITY. Her instant response was that – “It's fine, I'll take care of it! If you would have come 30 minutes earlier to me, you wouldn't have missed your flight!” You can try to imagine how we would have felt by hearing that! It was 9:50am by now! 10. Anukiran made the call to EOC and my daughter's visa was confirmed within 5 minutes. But, we missed our flight! 11. Our problems did not end with missing our flight! Since, it was urgent for us to be back in Australia to continue our living, We rushed to Jet Airways reservation counter to get our tickets re-scheduled for the next day (10.09.2015). We were demanded to pay an additional of Rs.93, 650.00 (INR) to get the tickets rescheduled for 4 o[censored]s. Having no choice at that point in time, we paid the amount to get the tickets (please see the payment receipt attached). 12. After sorting out the air-tickets for next day, We went back to see the Duty Manager, Abhinav, to register the complaint. Here we got another refusal from him! He said, “We don't deal with complaints here. If you have one, please register it online.” We questioned him about why someone from his counter didn't know the procedure and why no one was ready to assist us, and why did we had to miss our flight? His reply was, “It was your problem, if you would have come with proper document we wouldn't have stopped you.” Again, supervisor Shaziyah was behind Abhinav and passed another remark here – “Hamara kaam nahin hai ki hum kisi ko call karte firein.” 13. Anyways, after all this drama at the airport and being strangled with two little kids for 5 hours, I had to book a hotel nearby for a night stay and bear an additional cost for it as well (please see the payment receipt attached)! This is the complete description of what happened at the airport. Our Suffering: I, Kiran Aryan, run my own business and it was un-attended for one more day. I had my work planned and other due items planned for the next day when I was supposed to arrive in Melbourne. However, everything got caught up in this drama because of the unwillingness of the ground staff to assist their Customers. My wife, Kshirja Aryan, is studying in Australia and had her term-end exam the very next day (10.09.2015), that she missed. She is a student of criminal justice in Australia and is well aware of laws of both countries, even the immigration. The staff's lack of knowledge to even read the visa notification has costed her a term in her studies. She was suffering from Migraine and Sinus pain and we didn't had time to even sit down at the airport. Our 2-year old daughter was strangled with us at the airport, without food and rest for 5 hours. She did not had to go through all this! We had our friend's daughter (minor on Australian Passport) travelling with us, who had to miss her school by one day. We have never felt so helpless at the hands of some insensitive and senseless people. It is so shameful that the ground staff isn't ready to assist their own Customers and yet every one of them have the audacity to pass rude remarks directly and indirectly moreover why Jet Airways mentions in flights about 'thank you for choosing to fly with Jet Airways' when they have trained their staff to make every single effort to stop people from flying? To us, it looks like a clear case of fraud, where the team is looking for any reason to make people miss their flights so that they can pay Jet Airways more to re-schedule it! I am baffledand post this incidence asked myself over and over again if the Jet Airways even know the meaning of customer service? It was like the ground staff owned the area and if they wish they will let the passenger travel. We have been travelling to India since last six years and this is the first episode of shameless attitude on the hands of the ground staff of an Airlines where a simple protocol wasn't followed. Our Stand on this Incident: 1. We have provided enough evidence to prove that we had a valid visa for all o[censored]s. If it wasn't reflecting on their systems, it was their problem and NOT our as travellers. 2. The staff should have shown a simple courtesy to be pro-active to figure out the issue, at least after reading the Visa notification, and assisted us to get on our flight. Our course of Action: 1. We will be raising this issue with Australian immigration to confirm whether the copy of my Visa Grant Notification was enough evidence for me to provide anywhere in the world. 2. We will be registering our complaint with Ministry of Civil Aviation and External Affairs in India. It will also be registered with DGCA and Consumer Affairs. 3. We will be bringing this incident in media and social media to make everyone aware of your 'services'. 4. We will also file a law-suit against the airlines on grounds of Fraud, Mental Abuse, Harassment and Trauma. 5. Lastly, we will also file the complaint with your partner airline in Australia and Civil Aviation here. What We Claim from Jet Airways: 1. 100% compensation of the cost of re-scheduling the ticket and our stay at hotel. 2. Compensation for the loss of education term for my wife, Kshirja Aryan. 3. Compensation for the mental abuse and harassment caused to us and our kids by the team of Jet Airways. 4. A written apology from the Airline and the staff (Manish, Shaziyah and Abhinav). 5. 100% compensation of Legal cost paid by us.