The Travail of Air Travels

I have now been traveling regularly by air for nearly 30 years and internationally for 23 years and things were reasonably good, comfortable and hassle free. Since last couple of years there has been a turn around and almost every trip, especially international has not been without some adventure.

Until last year, the only adverse experience I encountered was baggage arrival delays. In the last 3 or 4 years the frequency increased as it happened 5 times, every second or third trip. Prior to that I had never experienced any significant problems with air travel, except occasional delays but mainly on the domestic sectors in India. Infact the days in which there was no electronic ticketing, online check-ins or other digital marvels, flights were on time, baggage arrived securely, inter airline connectivity was smooth, if you missed the flight for whatever reason you would be accommodated on another airline, hotel accommodation was provided without a fuss, meals were provided at airports when there were delays, refunds were given promptly etc.

In the last couple of years things have changed for the worse. All that can go wrong goes wrong as my experience shows. One of my worst baggage delays I experienced flying Air Malaysia was my trip to Hanoi. I had a six day training program to conduct and was in Vietnam for eight days and my bags never arrived. On my return journey at Kuala Lumpur airport I went to the lost baggage section and personally located my bag on which baggage tags were missing. I had to prove to them that these bags belonged to me by listing what was in the bags and having some id proof in the bags. By chance my International Youth Hostels id card was in one of the bags and they allowed me to collect the bags. The compensation given was $45 for 8 days of waiting for the baggage being without any change of clothes or other accessories. I ended up buying clothes, accessories and a bag worth $350 (had to shop in international branded dept. stores because locally made stuff would not fit me as the average Vietnamese size is much smaller). Well, being a Sikh one accessory I needed and could not get in Vietnam was a turban and had to make do with the single turban I was wearing for the entire trip. I had an extensive exchange of emails and phone calls over 4 months with Air Malaysia and they raised the compensation by $55 saying that that was the maximum they paid to business class and extended me that courtesy even though I was in Economy class. The travel insurance I had with New India Assurance Company was rendered useless as I could not produce all the bills for the claims I had put in even though they would anyway reimburse only $100. They did not reimburse a penny. I did not renew my policy with them.

Another recent incident was early this year. I was traveling to Bandung on Jet Airways with an onward connection from Singapore with Air Asia. I arrived at Mumbai airport and they checked me in. While I was waiting in the immigration queue their supervisor came running and escorted me back to the counter and canceled my booking saying that Jet Airways did not interline with Air Asia and hence they were off-loading me since I would have to exit immigration in Singapore to access my baggage and I did not have a Singapore visa. I went to the Singapore Airlines counter to check if that was true. They advised me that if I had no checked in luggage then there should be no problem as I would not have to exit immigration. Very rational and logical indeed. I went back to Jet Airways and told them that since I had a small strolley bag I would carry it as hand baggage. They did not buy this argument saying that Air Asia did not have a transfer desk in the transfer area and hence I would have to exit the immigration. I rechecked with Singapore Airlines and they again told me that Air Asia had a transfer desk. Jet Airways was adamant and refused to take me. I was also told that there would be no refund of the ticket and I would only get the tax amount back. Air Asia did not refund even the tax amount. I had to go to Bandung for an important meeting and began to look at other options. Singapore Airlines was willing but they were asking for a fare of Rs. 96000 for a route which should normally cost about Rs. 35000 for the return fare. It was at that moment that our much cursed national carrier Air India came to my rescue. They gave me a booking for Rs. 36,000 with a comfortable exit row seat concerned that I was wearing knee braces. I vowed there and then that for domestic and international travels I would henceforth boycott Jet Airways and by choice prefer Air India which I have done more or less over the years. After 3 months of email exchanges with guest relations of Jet Airways nothing has come out and I am looking at the possibility of consumer action.

And now as I sit and write this at JFK airport waiting for my Emirates flight to Mumbai via Dubai I have witnessed another travel travail. I had a booking by a Delta flight from Washington DC DCA to New York JFK.  Flight DL 4217 was to depart at 6:35 pm on 16^th April 2011 but the weather was bad and they kept announcing delays. By 7 pm they had cancelled the flight and when I asked them what about my onward international connection at 11 pm from JFK they said they could do nothing about that because that booking was a different one, having a separate PNR number. I requested them to contact Emirates and get me rebooked for the next day. They refused out right – this was an uncolored woman behind the desk (was it racism?). They in turn had booked me without consulting me for my JFK flight next morning at 10:55 am. Next I asked them if I would get hotel accommodation since the flight was canceled and I was directed to another desk. A non-colored man was at the desk and he said we don’t do hotels for weather cancellations. I walked away.

I went on the net and located the Emirates toll free number (what a relief that something like toll free exits!). I called Emirates and as one would expect it went to a call centre somewhere in India. Chrysil was on line and she said that their systems were down and she could not do anything. I apprised her of my dire situation but it fell on deaf ears. She said I should call back after an hour or so. By this time my bladder was bursting at its seams and I rushed to the restroom. I got back to the phone and dialed Emirates again and this time I got Dipti. I explained my situation and after half an hour of consultation she said that yes they would rebook me but first they wanted to speak to someone from Delta airlines to confirm that my flight was cancelled. I asked her why could she not check online the flight number to check its status. She said that for the record they needed a Delta staff to confirm that. Thank goodness I was at the airport otherwise where would I get a Delta staff, for instance if I was in a hotel room. I requested her to wait and ran to the Delta counter some distance away and requested one of the staff to help me with this. They outright refused, again a non-colored woman.

I came back to Dipti and told her that they were refusing to come on the phone and Dipti insisted that she could not take the process ahead without getting a confirmation from a Delta staff. Another half hour of pleading and non-responsiveness went on and I was about to hang up when I saw a colored staff member of Delta close by and requested Dipti to hold on. I told him my predicament and he went to the nearest counter to confirm that flight DL 4217 was cancelled and spoke to Dipti and assured her about the canceled flight. I thanked profusely Bernard the colored man. That done Dipti transferred the call to the amendment person Prasanna and he helped me with the rebooking and I expressed a sigh of relief. This toll free call lasted for nearly two hours – isn’t it amazing! Just imagine if I had to use my mobile, which fortunately did not work in the US, and talk that long.

I went back at the Delta desk to confirm my next days booking and to find out how I would get back my checked in baggage and I was told what I needed to do. Just as a chance I again checked about accommodation at the hotel and the friendly person across the counter smiled and said ofcourse and took my boarding card and got me a hotel voucher as well as meal vouchers. This jovial person behind the counter was a colored man! Too many coincidences to believe that it was not racism.

The story did not end there. I was allotted Holiday Inn but when I was getting into the hotel shuttle the driver said that there was no room at the hotel. He called again to reconfirm and the hotel said that they were overbooked. Back to the Delta desk and the same jovial colored man was there. I told him the situation and he apologized and called Holiday Inn to check with them. Bad luck! He tried other hotels and finally got the Courtyard Marriot in Alexandria and confirmed it for me. It was already 10:30 pm and I had been at the airport for 7 hours. He kindly offered to get me a voucher for the cab as he said that I had already waited too long.  I gave him a huge hug. His name was Alex.

Well the story goes on… I reached the Marriot and I was told that I had a booking but they would not accept the voucher and I would have to pay direct and claim a refund from Delta. It was 11 pm and I was exhausted not having eaten since 1 pm. I agreed and paid using my card. Well it was a five star hotel but their kitchen had closed at 10 pm so there was no food. I discovered that in my hand bag I had an apple so that was it.

Next morning back at the airport in DC I enquired about the refund for my hotel payment and I was sent from one person to another, given different numbers which I called and nothing happened. No one could guide me. I gave up and waited for my JFK flight. I arrived in JFK and took another chance at the customer services desk of Delta and here again I found a colored man named Michael. He listened patiently my story and took my documents and said he would go and meet some managerial staff. After half hour he got back and explained to me what I had to do and gave me another number to call. I was fed up by now but after lunch I gave the number a try and the voice on the other end Tracy, seemed experienced with such cases and she said that all I had to do was to mail the unused voucher and the receipt of payment at the Atlanta address of Delta and they would do the needful. I don’t know if Tracy was colored or non-colored but I guess she gave me some hope. Next stop a snail mail to Atlanta and soon another trip and another travel travail?

17^th April, JFK - NYC