06th January 2015
The most horrifying experience and a perfect way to bring in the New Years – courtesy Air India. I had a flight back to Toronto from Delhi, after a few weeks of vacation with my family. I was supposed to fly back on 6th January 2015 at 06:50 am. I was to fly Air India – AI 115 – from Delhi to London and then Air Canada from London to Toronto. The tickets were booked and confirmed.
As usual I was at the airport at 03:45 am - 3 hours before the flight time. Upon reaching the AI counters there was already a long queue because only 3 counters were functioning out of the 12-15. But we all waited for our turns patiently which obviously was taking forever. It was only around 05:15 am that we all started wondering that the queue has hardly moved, some officials made some calls regarding some other flights and took the passengers from the middle with them.
But the people flying to London were still waiting and wondering. And when asked, sure enough, none of the officials had any answers and in turn in their rude and unruly behaviour asked us to stay in the line and wait for our turn. As I was unsure of what was going on, I called my parents and asked them to stay on until I was sure, who were still waiting outside the airport for almost 2 hours now.
By now we all started realising that there was definitely a screw up and this is the reason why the officials that too hardly 3 of them catering some 100-200 people, had gone mute. So within seconds of their such behaviour the ‘so –called queue’ no longer existed, people started rushing in towards the 3 counters open to understand the situation, and in no time there was a chaos or in literal terms - a local fish market in front of the AI counters. I was a little lost, because I was travelling alone and I was in a fix, because either I could have taken care of my luggage or shoved it aside and somehow made my way to the counters through the crowd. But it dint take long for us to understand when the mum officials of AI finally broke their silence and told us how AI 115 was overbooked and they wont be able to send us on that flight, and will have to accommodate us on another flight. What’s surprising is that – it took them almost 2.5 hours to tell us something they knew all along. They were just playing us passengers. So what came next was not at all surprising - The reactions of the passengers. They were loud screams and shouts and loud voices and people hooting – ‘haye haye air india’ – from each and every side. And those AI officials still had the audacity to speak to us rudely and arrogantly.
Anyway, somewhere around 06:45 am(mind you 06:50 am was the time of our actual flight), another official of AI came and asked the other officials to start issuing us the Boarding Passes for the next flight which was at 02:45 pm same day. Yes, this was a little relief, so yet again there was literally a mob attack at those counters – everyone rushing into get their boarding passes before they fill up that flight as well and we are left with nothing. So I called my parents who were still waiting outside and asked them to leave now that I shall be getting booked on a new flight soon. But after all this they refused to trust the air lines so soon and said they would wait until I have it in my hand. So I made my way somehow with my luggage through the crowd to a counter and asked her to issue me a Boarding Pass and informed her how I have a further connecting flight to Canada, only to realise that the 15 other people standing around me were also complaining about the same. And once again the AI supervisor sitting at the counter goes mum. For the next 30 mins she kept taking our passports and tickets and said she is issuing us our Boarding Passes, and upon asking what about the connecting flight, she said she is working on it. I guess it was stupid on our part to trust them once again, thinking that they were honestly trying to figure out something for us.
Meanwhile, other passengers only travelling upto London were issued their Boarding Passes for 2:45 pm and were promised a hotel till then and meal vouchers(which they NEVER GOT and I saw them fight for it till the time I was at the airport). And here we were still standing at the counter in hope that we will get ours soon.
So guess what happens next – at around 07:30 am(its been 4 hours since we have been at the airport now) – the supervisor who was ‘apparently helping us’ starts explaining the situation to some new official, and that’s when we understand that all this while she has been unable to find any connections for us since all Air Canada flights were fully booked and also how she was unable to contact any AC official. Oh, and why was she explaining all this to the new guy – because the shifts were changing. As soon as we understood the whole situation -there was a fit of rage from all of us standing on the other side. And we pleaded her to stay on and leave once she is able to fix the situation because she knew what was going on better than anyone else, but she simply walked off. I just used the word plead – but I don’t understand why we had to beg these officials when WE are the passengers and have paid FULLY for these tickets, and its not like they are obliging us. Anyway this is how SHITTY WAS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE OF AIR INDIA.
Sure enough the new official was clueless and we were impatient, so on repeatedly questioning him he snapped and started behaving in an unruly manner. Anyway soon enough we realised that he was also USELESS – like any other official there, and had failed to provide us any answers and kept us hanging for another hour.
So now it was 9 am – we have been at the airport for 5.5 hours with no answers, solutions, boarding passes, food/water being offered – and still victims of foul and impolite behaviour of the AI officials. Finally after 15 mins a senior AI official walks in unaware of what was going on. On learning the situation he promised us that he will figure it out for us in the next 15 minutes. So we believed. And yes my parents were still waiting outside in the cold – so I called them and informed that a senior is here and we might just get lucky now. So, now we are running back and forth with him – from the ticketing counters to the AI counter, and sure enough it dint take 15 mins but good 45 mins. Yes it was 10 am – and I had been at the airport for 6.5 hours – hungry, thirsty, lost, mentally harassed, abused, and HELPLESS – for the first time I dint know where to go, what to do. I had tried raising my voice, tried to talk softly, tried to threaten that will report to social media – tried everything and nothing worked. Finally I broke down. I was tired – very tired. And honestly did not know how long this could go on for – had lost all hopes. And outside my parents were equally impatient, tired and cold. So finally around 10 am my dad – who is an advocate - angry and frustrated called me up and asked me to leave. AI had really tested our patience. And I had to be back in Canada asap because I had work to join. So after another 30 mins of haggling with the senior official – I learnt that he was unable to do anything. There were no connecting flights available uptil the 14th January and that too he wasn’t sure off whether we will get or not, and he refused to provide any further answers or help – but a piece of paper saying that ‘the passenger was offloaded due to overbooking’ – and if I want I can complain basis this paper, but there is nothing more he could do. Oh and cherry on top, while leaving he – ‘a senior official of AI’ himself said that it was our mistake that we booked AI, and now that we did book we need to suffer because this was bound to happen. I was quite shocked at this statement.
So after 7 hours of ruthless wait at the airport, and with my parents waiting outside the airport, we decided to leave. And because it was important for me to get back to Canada at the earliest because of my job, we had to book a one way ticket at our own expense for the day after – and this time made no mistake and booked my preferred airline – jet airways.
This was my first time flying via AI and MOST DEFINITELY THE LAST. It was the biggest mistake that I could have ever made. The staff and the customer service was really bad, inefficient, had no empathy for their passengers, ruthless, arrogant and ignorant. No one had any care for the time, money or feelings for their passengers and in turn made us feel that it was our mistake.
I would honestly advise each and every one of you to think a 100 times before booking AI. It was a MAJOR MENTAL HARRASMENT. And I ended up spending SO MUCH MORE MONEY AND TIME, of which AI has no regret.