I have flown on many carriers through my life, but I have never come across an airline that is so indifferent and arrogant to its customers. Let me tell you my simple(but unusual) story. I along with my mom and brother had to board the flight at 18.25 hrs from Chennai to Mumbai. Our house is at a 30 minutes distance from the airport and we chose to leave at 16.30 hrs from our apartment.
Unfortunately, we were stuck in a huge traffic jam, which was apparently due to the Chief Minister’s convoy. I called up the Air India customer support desk in Chennai at around 17.30 hrs and asked them to check us in through the phone as we had only one cabin baggage and no check-in baggage, considering this to be a special case. I also told him that we would be at the airport in 10 minutes.
The representative on the other side said that the counter was about to be closed and the check-in was possible only in person and that there is no phone or ONLINE CHECK-IN. After saying that, he immediately hung up on me without waiting for me to respond. When we reached the airport we weren’t very surprised to see 10 other people standing in front of the IX 602 check-in counter which read "Counter Closed". All of us had the same reason: "traffic at Ramapuram due to CM’s convoy". The manager at the counter was not very helpful. He just had a very few simple words for us " the counter is closed and I do not want to be blamed for the delay of the flight, hence I cannot check you guys in" .
Well I don’t think this is the way to respond to a helpless woman whose eyes were full of tears, and was trying to reason out why all of them were late! My father had left on the same flight just the day before and he said that the aircraft pushed back at 18.40 hrs. Had we been allowed to board the flight, I am sure that the flight could have still been able to be pushed back at 18.25 hrs given the fact that we just had to clear the security check and board the flight.
Air India Express employees do not have any sense of discretion between what’s right or wrong. What’s doable and what’s not. We asked for alternatives and procedures for cancelling our ticket and the manager said that he was not aware of any alternatives. The funniest and most painful part is that the CUSTOMER SUPPORT at Air India Express DOESN’T FUNCTION DURING WEEKENDS! Well, I personally have seen very few products/organizations in the service industry which do not provide at 24*7 customer support. Well, I have flown in Air India many times, not very recently, but I thought that their customer service is good. But what has happened over the past couple of years?!
My suggestion to you is that if you want to book your tickets in a budget airlines, then it is OK to spend a few hundred bucks more and book in Indigo/Spicejet in order to be safe. One of my friends had recently missed his Spicejet flight due to a similar(GENUINE) reason and he was put in the next flight. Analyzing the cause and providing a solution to its customers is the duty of every organization in the service industry and Air India Express clearly doesn’t have any values in that aspect.