Chances are many of you might have undergone similar trials and tribulations while on air travel – a few to write off, and some to guard against.
I have had my own quota of good, bad and indifferent experiences ranging from airlines’ last-minute cancellation of flights, missing the connecting flight for no fault of mine, unaccompanied luggage, booking agents not complying with full documentation formalities…
The most recent one was last month. We had our Boarding pass printed at home and were just twenty minutes away from the Bangalore airport to take off to Ahmedabad. Suddenly lands an email instead to say that for operational reasons the flight has been cancelled. It was one of the best-rated domestic airlines. Luckily, at the airport we managed to book in another airline leaving around the same time. Of course we coughed up three times more money. Yes, everything has a price – and all the more, the last-minute purchases.
This flight was Delhi-Chicago – a few years ago. Passengers had already lined up to board the flight – wheelchairs, babies in arms, seniors, Executive class, Business class…in that order, much to the dismay of the last two categories that they were sidelined. Suddenly the America-based airlines announced that the front door of the aircraft was not locking properly and hence the flight stood cancelled. “Please board the bus waiting nearby for overnight hotel stay,” reassured the airlines staff. Believe me, those till then in wheelchair for priority boarding literally ran to the bus with no less speed than P T Usha.
We went to the airlines counter in the hotel for rebooking but were told that in our case the main ticket was issued by another airline. They were in the picture only for the Delhi-Chicago sector. Hence, we should go to the main airlines. Their office was elsewhere in Delhi. Luckily, as an ex-Delhi-ite, I knew the place. It turned out that the Manager of this airline was my cousin’s son. He offered not only upgrading but a night’s free stay in London if we wanted to have fun. We were anxious to get to US, and so politely declined his offer.
This one relates to our last US trip in 2022, the Bangalore-San Francisco-Phoenix travel via the airlines’ hub in Europe. Because of delayed departure from Bangalore and consequent delayed landing in the hub airport, we missed the connecting flight to US. We were dumped into an alternative see-the-world detour flight. Meanwhile both our mobiles ran out of charge. We could not contact our sons. Luckily the elder one suspected this and arranged with the younger one in SFO to meet us at SFO airport, which he did with our grandson. A bonus meeting, we were delighted. We spent the night with them in SFO airport and took the next early morning flight to Phoenix – minus our luggage. Of course, we fought for and got compensation for all this.
In another flight, we missed the connecting flight from London and were accommodated in a hotel for one night.
Among the small incidents were one when my suitcase arrived damaged in Geneva. They promptly authorized us to get it replaced from the nearest Samsonite shop.
This flight was a flight from Delhi to Geneva via a Scandinavian country. We landed and were asked to sit in a corner in the Immigration section. Twenty minutes later we observed that all the alighted passengers had cleared immigration and gone; we were still being seated. “Any problem? We asked the Immigration official. “Yes, you are the problem, sir,” You had travelled without a transit visa. But you happen to hold a UN Laissez Passer (UN Passport). So, we shall accommodate you in the jeep along with aircraft staff that leaves straight from the ground to the aircraft. Yes, some agents do mislead passengers on visa requirements just to book business.”
“So nice of you, sir,” we thanked them profusely for being led to the aircraft, instead of to a possible lock up.
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