Emirates, Lufthansa, Etihad, Malaysian, Kuwait and British Airways. I flew with them on my previous trips. This time though I decided to fly with Air India. It was July 6th, 2007 and the summer heat was on in NY. I was traveling from New York to India for a vacation...Chennai and Cochin to be precise. The flight from JFK, NY was delayed by more than 2 1/2 hrs and Air India made us sit in the aircraft for close to 2 hrs with no air conditioning. Nice first impressions! I landed at Chennai way beyond the actual arrival time and found that a few of my co-passengers had their baggage missing.
My return journey in the morning of July 28th from Chennai to NY was a nightmare. The flight from Chennai to Mumbai was delayed by more than 3 hrs. And, by the time I landed in Mumbai the flight to NY had already left. There I was stranded with my co-passengers in the front of the Air India counter at the Mumbai airport. There were some 6-7 Air India officials at the counter with none having a clue of what needs to be done. It was 7:00 AM in the morning and I was feeling a bit tired. But I felt more tired when I saw the nonchalant and clueless attitude of the Air India officials. No announcements or a word of what will be done was conveyed to us for more than 3 hrs. People by now had lost patience with the babus. Request for alternate arrangements fell on deaf ears. Request from my co-passengers now turned violent in the form of shouting and screaming. Still no response from the tie clad babus. Did you just mention customer service?....huh...I should have known this was Air India...Its not in their dictionary.
Finally after 3 hrs of pleading, screaming and shouting, we were put into a flight to Newark, NJ. Thank God I thought!...I was finally flying back and I couldn’t believe my luck. But passengers traveling to Chicago weren't with much...they had to wait for the next day and I did not see Air India arranging them an accommodation to stay, at least until I was there at the airport. That was like for over more than 4 hrs. I am sure the passengers received the accommodation after that, but why the delay in arranging one when it was known that the Chicago passengers will be flying only the next day. Why wasn’t Air India prepared to handle such situations in a more professional manner? Isn't it Air India's responsibility to take care of the passengers in the best possible manner when the fault was entirely their's? Shame on you Air India!
In three words my impression of the airline --- "Air India Sucks!"
During my vacation I flew in a few of the domestic airlines operating in India....namely Jet, Kingfisher and Paramount. I thought they were excellent and even better than most of the domestic airlines operating in the United States. Air India is just an exception to an otherwise good number of airlines operating now in India.
My vacation to India though turned out to be FANTASTIC! And I am planning to fly again soon. This time though through a different airline. Air India?...huh...Never Again!!!
My return journey in the morning of July 28th from Chennai to NY was a nightmare. The flight from Chennai to Mumbai was delayed by more than 3 hrs. And, by the time I landed in Mumbai the flight to NY had already left. There I was stranded with my co-passengers in the front of the Air India counter at the Mumbai airport. There were some 6-7 Air India officials at the counter with none having a clue of what needs to be done. It was 7:00 AM in the morning and I was feeling a bit tired. But I felt more tired when I saw the nonchalant and clueless attitude of the Air India officials. No announcements or a word of what will be done was conveyed to us for more than 3 hrs. People by now had lost patience with the babus. Request for alternate arrangements fell on deaf ears. Request from my co-passengers now turned violent in the form of shouting and screaming. Still no response from the tie clad babus. Did you just mention customer service?....huh...I should have known this was Air India...Its not in their dictionary.
Finally after 3 hrs of pleading, screaming and shouting, we were put into a flight to Newark, NJ. Thank God I thought!...I was finally flying back and I couldn’t believe my luck. But passengers traveling to Chicago weren't with much...they had to wait for the next day and I did not see Air India arranging them an accommodation to stay, at least until I was there at the airport. That was like for over more than 4 hrs. I am sure the passengers received the accommodation after that, but why the delay in arranging one when it was known that the Chicago passengers will be flying only the next day. Why wasn’t Air India prepared to handle such situations in a more professional manner? Isn't it Air India's responsibility to take care of the passengers in the best possible manner when the fault was entirely their's? Shame on you Air India!
In three words my impression of the airline --- "Air India Sucks!"
During my vacation I flew in a few of the domestic airlines operating in India....namely Jet, Kingfisher and Paramount. I thought they were excellent and even better than most of the domestic airlines operating in the United States. Air India is just an exception to an otherwise good number of airlines operating now in India.
My vacation to India though turned out to be FANTASTIC! And I am planning to fly again soon. This time though through a different airline. Air India?...huh...Never Again!!!
7 comments:
as you said customer service? whats that is the norm everywhere in india.
Well what more can you xpect out of a establishment run by the 'Maharaja politicians'???
be thankful that u got urself n luggage intact! n lol did u 4get to mention the granny air hostesses...????
to dan's comment...well, atleast one needs to make an effort to improve the service...i found the likes of jet and kingfisher very good in this department
to rejulibra's comment...yes u r absolutely right...apart from the grannies, they was more..for example they were showing movies of rajkumar and meena kumari dancing around trees and stuff...how abt that..heheh
This is great info to know.
You are right.. Air India really sucks.. They trouble and embarrass their customers so much and make us Indians feel ashamed..
One time with Air India in 2007, I never took it again. I prefer Jet airways/kingfisher who give much better service
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