I had booked an early morning Indigo Flight(No. 6E617) from Delhi to Vizag which was scheduled for departure was 5.40 AM. I reached around 4.35 am, checked-in and got my boarding pass at 4.55 am . After going through security check, we finally reached gate -16 with about 19 mins time left . But what followed after was most shocking and harrowing.
I was told that i’m late and it would not be possible to board the flight. Despite several requests the airline staff did not budge. We were told that we will have to wait till the next available flight and escorted out to a separate ticket counter. We were then given two options - Delhi to Vizag via Bhubaneshwar(for INR 34000/-) scheduled around 7 am and Delhi to vizag via Hyderabad(for INR 29000/-) scheduled around 12 noon. We had several other similar people for company going to different destinations.
The counters literally turned into -’satta points’ with sops suiting the tempers and urgency of the customers. I stood ground feeling depressed and cheated . I missed out on everything that I had planned for during the day at Vizag including an appointment with a doctor for my wife who was not keeping well and was travelling with me. Indigo has really set a bad precedence for other airlines like Spicejet and Indian Airlines who have always been forthcoming in reaching out to travelers by alerting them and guiding them through the checks upto final boarding.
My loss was more emotional than financial for being cheated this way. Sorry, Indigo this was most unprofessional on your part and I shall not leave any opportunity to spread my message to one and all through this forum and other consumer forums available in this beautiful country.