Air India Sucks!!!

Pending complaint to Air India. Unresolved and no response over 5 months...

May 25, 2005
To
Refunds / Customer Relations
Air India
New York, NY


Dear Sir / Madam -
Sub:- Delay of flight# 144 on Apr 21, 2005
I am writing this letter to express my recent unpleasant experience with Air India
and to request fair compensation for my experience. My brother's family and my
family chose to travel using Air Indiato attend our parents' “Shastiabdapoorthi” -
which is a wedding ceremony conducted on parent's 60th birthday hosted by the
sons/daughters. My brother had booked five tickets (3 for his family plus 2 for
mine) using Hi-Fly travel agency based at New Jersey in February. My brother's
schedule was to leave from EWR to MAA Apr 7 and return back Apr 30. My
schedule was to leave from IAD to MAA Apr 21 and return Apr 30. There was
no issue with my brother's itinerary but mine was completely messed up and
resulted in me unable to co-host my parents' ceremony. I will present a gist of
what my woes are and you can find the details in the following pages. I rewrote
to summarize the crux for you
● Air Indiafailed to notify me of the flight delay ahead of time despite the
fact I called to reconfirm and review my emergency contact information
two days prior to travel date
● Air India refused to accept responsibility at the airport, squarely placed the
blame on me (not receiving the Air India message) and travel agent not
giving me the message of Air India's flight delay
● Failed to re-route my flight either to final destination or back home –
wasted a whole lot of my time and left me stranded at Newark airport at
wee hours
● Air India directed me to pursue refund process via Travel Agent (Hi-Fly,
NJ) who refused and asked to approach Air India directly. This continued
for several calls and neither was willing to resolve issue quickly with a
conference call!
● Finally Mr.Brian, Air India manager/supervisor at New York handling
customer calls was courteous and explained that I write directly to Air
India citing that the travel agent would not pursue my complaint.
For this, I expect at minimum
● Full refund of my out of pocket expenses for ticket(s) all legs of the trip
used as well as unused – (Basic ticket cost $1253.15 X 2 = 2506.3).
● Written apology from one of your staff, (Rep. Delma) for treating us
poorly. In our opinion she cost us our re-route options by misinforming,
not escalating the issue quickly and wasting our time while at the same
time evidently eager to leave the shift.
Although, I feel more has to be done to motivate us to ever try flying Air India
again. And nothing can compensate for us missing the occasion and for the mental
strain of having stranded in Newark airport and having to drive back home for 5
hours during the wee hours of the morning.
I was told by Mr.Brian to write to this address and was told that the refunds would
be given back to the Travel Agent and not directly to me. Please notify me when
the refund is made and amount of refund either by calling me at my phone
number or via email provided in the address above. I trust Air India will
address my concerns and handle this in an expeditious manner and help reform
our opinions of your airline and its dealings with its customers.
Attachments
1. Original copy of the tickets – all legs except IAD-EWR which was used
2. Itinerary from Travel Agent - Hi Fly Travel
3. Copy of checked baggage identifier
4. Copy of Air India letter on $100 cash disbursement
5. Copy of invitation of “Shastiabdapoorthi”
Details & Full Timeline
Please read below for the exact time line of the events, details and my recollection of the
same.,
● Apr 19 Home - I called to re-confirm our itinerary 2 days ahead of our
flights – verified phone number
to contact in case of delays
● Apr 21 2:00pm IAD Airport – United flight from IAD to EWR delayed
by 45 minutes baggaged checked -in till Chennai MAA
● Apr 21 3:45 pm EWR Airport – Arrived at EWR Airport
● Apr 21 4:10 pm Air India Ticketing/Check-in line – Waiting in line
● Apr 21 4:35 pm Air India Ticketing/Check-in – Moved by staff to
another line for connecting passengers alone (this one has has more people
now and all the people standing behind us on the original line are now in
front of us and staff seem indifferent to this shift )
● Apr 21 5:40 pm Air India Check-in Counter - I am notified of the delay
(staff Mohammed) that the flight will not leave till atleast 3AM and I will
miss my connection at Bombay and will reach chennai at around 11:30am.
There was no notification at Air India check-in counter (at EWR) about
this delay and it seemed under staffed and it took us roughly 1.5 hrs in the
line before we got to the counter to hear about the delay and crucial time
was wasted in the line
● Apr 21 5:45 pm - On hearing the delay I told I was attending a wedding
on day of arrival and my options were either to be there on time (by
8.30am latest at MAA on 23rd ) or leave back to IAD as there was no point
in me making a 5 day trip to India when I will miss the wedding
ceremony. Agent Delma is called by Mohammed to handle. (Which he
later, towards the end of the day, denied admitting it. It was a flat lie!)
● Apr 21 5:50 pm - I am being repeatedly told that I was notified at my
home number and cell (gave my brothers NJ number) and I
may have missed the message and it was not Air India's fault (rep.
Mohammed and rep. Delma) – which I later came to know is false
information as I did not receive any messages from Air India at my home
or cell number
● Apr 21 5:50 pm – I request to be re-routed via JFK or British Airways
(9pm). I am told if it was possible they would have done and in my case I
required TRANSIT VISA at UK. I tell them I am a Green Card holder. I
am told “sorry, we can only put you on the 3AM flight”. I repeat I cannot
take the 3AM flight and will have to cancel the trip if there is no other
option. I tell them I need to call home and let them about the delay.
Eventually, I was not re-routed via JFK or British Airways when I felt an
opportunity was there (as I was a connecting passenger, I reached Newark
airport and was on the check-in line as early as 4pm). We were clearly
misinformed by Rep. Delma – who told us we required VISA to take UK
connection flights even after we mentioned we were Green Card holders.
● Apr 21 6:00-6:20 pm – Found a phone made a call and notified about my
delay and options I am pursuing with the airlines (ie. On-time reroute to
chennai or cancellation of the trip)
● Apr 21 6:20 pm – Back in the check-in line, waiting for turn
● Apr 21 6:40 pm – Frustrated and decided to walk to the counter and
directly to agent Delma and mohammed
● Apr 21 6:45 pm – I am now taken to a senior staff (Delma's immediate
manager). Our situation was not brought to the notice of a senior Air India
staff earlier when she had the opportunity. Delma's manager understands
my situation very quickly and starts acting on routing options. Tries
British Airways, Virgin atlantic in parallel as JFK is no longer an option.
Already blocks an earlier connecting flight from Mumbai-Chennai which
will get me to Chennai by 9:00am or so.
● Apr 21 7:00-8:30 pm – British Airways was determined as not an option
and Virgin atlantic flight which was delayed as well and was scheduled to
leave at 10:40pm was the one I was put on. This was really a time when
my wife and I were in limbo not knowing the status of who is following up
with what etc. meanwhile our Green cards were passed around and I
wasn't able to locate Delma and was told she had left for the day and it
was not a comfortable situation.
● Apr 21 8:30 pm – Virgin Atlantic Counter – Boarding passes were
issued and Virgin staff had someone locating our baggages checked-in
from IAD to MAA.
● Apr 21 8:50 pm – Virgin Atlantic Counter – Virgin agents checked
with me if bags could be loaded to plane. I was not sure of what my other
flights were and I reviewed my connecting flights with Virgin
representative – who told me that there was more than 90% chance that I
will miss my connecting flight at Heathrow, UK as their flight lands at
10:10 and mine was leaving at 10:40. I did not have paper tickets, but only
a piece of paper with information written in pencil mark which I have to
take to a British airways personnel in london to get tickets, boarding pass
and check in my baggage. Also the virgin rep. told me even if I made the
British airways flight there was no chance I would catch the connection at
BOMBAY to chennai.
● Apr 21 8:55 pm – Virgin Atlantic Counter – I told Virgin Atlantic to
cancel my trip to London as I did not want to be stuck at London missing a
connection and I preferred to go back home.
● Apr 21 9:00 pm – Air India Counter – Came back to Air India told
them it was a real waste of my time trying to put me on a flight that was
not going to not make it in time and when simply wanted them send me
back home if it wasn't possible to get me in time. Air India tried to
convince me to take the 3am flight again.
● Apr 21 9:15 pm – Air India took out return tickets from EWR to IAD to
try to secure a flight, but came back that they only have flights for next
day morning. I told them I was willing to take the next day flight if they
were providing hotel accommodation for the night at Newark or I will take
a rental car or cab if they will pay for it so I can go home that night –
which is what I was asking them from the start.
● Apr 21 9:35 pm – Came back after talking to someone in Bombay that
they cannot provide hotel stay for the night or rental car and my only
option was to either take 3am flight or leave tomorrow morning.
● Apr 21 9:35 pm – 11:00pm – The impasse continued that they wont give
hotel or pay for cab back home. I made a comment I cannot believe that
they did not have someone who can make a decision to put me on a flight
or cab or put me on even a rental car (that will cost less than hundred
bucks/night). Based on this comment the staff somehow gathered that I
would be satisfied if they paid me $100 for rental car and handed me out
cash for the same. I asked them why would they not pay for me to stay in
the hotel for the night when they can give me $100 by cash? I was told it
was either tomorrow's flight or $100 cash. This made us feel real cheap as
for someone in our mental state who were stranded miles away from their
home unable to make it to an occasion of their lifetime, as making $100 in
cash that night was going to make our day! I refused to accept the cash.
The impassed seemed to continue.
● Apr 21 11:15pm- At this time I realized this was not going to be settled
here and I was not going to punish myself and my wife who were starving
at the counter all day not having anything to eat and the shops were about
to close at the airport. So I decided to take the cash with a letter as it would
help me prove the attitude with which they tried to resolve my situation.
You can find a copy of that attached as well. You will see from receipts
$100 would not cover for transportation from EWR to IAD given rental
charges, fuel and toll charges etc not to mention the strain of someone
driving for 5 hours at midnight after a really really long day at the airport
in the hands of “not-so-friendly” crew.
Its suffice to say my case was not be handled properly in every step of the way.
Right from the moment I reached the Air India check-in line, my wife and I had a
grueling experience the entire time approx. over 7 hours (4pm till 11:15pm). An
experience we would never forget or relive.
This has been my first ever attempt to fly Air India after having lived in the states
for around 7 years and made numerous visits to India; I was sad, disappointed and
felt helpless with the staff at Newark as no one seemed to have the authority to
make executive decisions on passengers under unique circumstances like me.
Even though my basic request was simple and straightforward ie., to put me on a
flight to reach Chennai in time or to send me back home to Dulles the same night.
I am still surprised that Air India could not even get me back home given that
EWR and IAD are major airports and left us stranded.
In these days where Airlines try to compete for “best service”, I hope Air India
views my criticism in the right light and do something to improve the customer
experience at the airports and in their dealings with customer before/after their
flights. Most airlines follow the unwritten code of ethics that in case of
mechanical delays, airlines provide customer with phone call, re-route,
refreshments and place to stay in case of excess delays. We weren't provided
anything! I will give credit where its due, I made numerous calls in vain to Air
India and my travel Agent Hi-Fly to get the correct process for reviewing the
refund. Mr.Brian (New York) was the only person who
explained and owned up to the responsibility and provided proper advice on how
to proceed. Thanks for taking your time to look into this. I trust you will do the
needful to reinstate our trust in your brand. Research says an unhappy customer
talks about a bad experience 20 times more than a customer talks about a good
experience.

Yours truly,