On 28/08/15, I wrote to Indigo:
Yesterday, I was traveling in Indigo(boarding pass attached), and carrying 6 bottles of liquor in my luggage bag(750 mL each, totaling 4.5 L, which is allowed if you travel from Guwahati since this airport allows a maximum of 5 L). The bottles were properly packed(wrapped by papers, followed by polythene bags, followed by towels), and the bag got inspected by the scanner, locked, and secured by a light blue tape(PFA the picture) at the airport by the Indigo crews. I requested a fragile tag in the ticket counter, and the lady offered it after I signed the tag declaring it fragile(PFA the picture). When I received it at the belt at the Kolkata airport, I immediately noticed that the bag was coming without being on a secure plastic box! I pulled the bag out, and immediately found that the side & the bottom of the bag were wet which indicated one or more of the bottles were broken. On the spot, I reported it to the Indigo desk. After taking a picture of the boarding pass and the bag on the cart(PFA the picture), they advised me to write an email to the Indigo customer relations with the details.
I, therefore, claim the damage compensation for the bottle that was broken. Fortunately, only one bottle which was Blenders Pride that costed me Rs. 470/-(PFA the bill) was broken despite negligence from the crews handing the bag.
Your kind and fast action will be appreciated. You can send a cheque to my home address mentioned below.
On 28/08/15, Indigo customer relations responded:
Greetings from IndiGo!
With reference to your mail, we sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you at Kolkata airport. Our endeavor has always been to deliver bag at the destination in good condition. We have noted your comments about the baggage services and we regret to note that your recent travel with us has not been up to your satisfaction.
However, we would like to mention here, that at Guwahati airport the baggage was marked under limited release tag(LRT) which was duly signed by you while giving the baggage at check-in. The LR tags are used for all unsuitably packed, fragile or perishable items and the airline liability stands limited in such cases.
As per conditions of carriage, IndiGo assumes no liability for wear and tear to luggage(scratches, torn zippers, broken locks, straps, wheels, handles, scuffs, dents soiling or manufacturer defects), or for unsuitably packed, perishable, damaged or fragile Baggage, or for water damage to non-waterproof Baggage.
Adhering to the policy above, this does not warrant any compensation. Thus, while we respectfully decline your request in this instance, we are hopeful that you will understand the need of our policy.
Nevertheless, we have shared your mail as a strong feedback with the concerned airport teams to ensure baggage delivery as per the standard practices and avoid any such issues in future.
We thank you for sharing your views with us, as it plays a critical role in enhancing quality of our customer service and achieve our goal to exceed customer expectations.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate with us. We look forward to serving you on board soon.
On 28/08/15, I wrote again:
GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM INDIGO! Congratulations!
So your unskilled crews won’t put the fragile tagged bags in the proper containers, drop/throw those bags, even let the bags hit by heavy items, and when the damage will happen, you will state:
# As per conditions of carriage, IndiGo assumes no liability for wear and tear to luggage(scratches, torn zippers, broken locks, straps, wheels, handles, scuffs, dents soiling or manufacturer defects), or for unsuitably packed, perishable, damaged or fragile Baggage, or for water damage to non-waterproof Baggage.
Great to know that Indigo DOES NOT care about the customer belongings at all. As per conditions? With these crap conditions, I will fly with Indigo as less as possible(unless I am forced to, like price advantage, corporate trip), and avoid carrying any expensive/too personal items in the luggage in future. I am going to share your reply in social network so that the customers know what the hell you can do with them.
# Nevertheless, we have shared your mail as a strong feedback with the concerned airport teams to ensure baggage delivery as per the standard practices and avoid any such issues in future.
Your lazy, unskilled, uncaring, stupid crews did’t even put my fragile tagged bag in a proper container making the fragile contents of the bag vulnerable to damage. I wish I could sue you, but it’s not worth going to even consumer court for INR 470 item.
I will try to write an email to your CEO, too once his email address is obtained.
I just wish you lose customers.
On 28/08/15, Indigo responded again:
Thank you for your choosing IndiGo and for writing to us.
At IndiGo, we assure you that customer satisfaction is our top priority and we want the service at all customer contact points to reflect that principle.
With reference to your mail, we sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you on arrival at Kolkata airport. Please be assured that we are well equipped at all airports to cater to customer with special needs like handling of fragile baggage.
As per the conditions of carriage, IndiGo assumes no liability for wear and tear to luggage(scratches, torn zippers, straps, wheels, handles, scuffs, dents soiling or manufacturer defects), or for unsuitably packed, perishable, damaged or fragile Baggage, or for water damage to non-waterproof Baggage. However, I would like to assure that strong feedback has been shared with the concerned airport managers and Manager-Quality Assurance for further and to ensure baggage delivery as per standard practices. We assure you that corrective measures have been initiated to avoid such inconvenience in future.
Mr. Mukherjee, your feedback - whether positive or negative - makes a difference and we thank you for sharing your views with us, as it plays a critical role in enhancing quality of our customer service and achieve our goal to exceed customer expectations.
Once again, we thank you for your valuable time that you took out to write to us and I assure you of our best services at all times.
This incident essentially tells me I cannot trust Indigo anymore as far as the luggage bag security is concerned.