Never Fly Jet Airways - Posting in the interest of general public The following is a true account of an extremely traumatic experience that my mother had to undergo during her recent travel using a very reputed (notorious?) airline in India. The atrocities that she faced compelled me to pen down the details for everyone’s awareness. Please be warned… NEVER FLY JET AIRWAYS AGAIN!!! My mother, 63yrs of age, took Lufthansa on Tuesday, 19th November 2013 from US (LAX) to India (Mumbai-BOM) reaching Mumbai airport at 1:45am on Thursday, 21st November 2013. Immediately after landing, she called to inform me about her wonderful experience of managing the flight transition during her layover at the Frankfurt airport. She had successfully managed it without any issues, considering the fact that this was the first time that she was flying an international flight by herself … albeit she spoke too soon. Her connecting flight from Mumbai to Goa was JET AIRWAYS scheduled at 5:40am (this is the first JET AIRWAYS flight in the morning). After completing the immigration formalities, it took two whole hours for her luggage to arrive at the carousel of the international airport (not sure if the con game starts here….) She picked up her luggage and boarded the shuttle towards the domestic terminal reaching the JET AIRWAYS counter at 4:40am (please bear in mind that this was well in advance for her scheduled 5:40am flight)…. Upon arrival at the counter, the ticketing agent tells her that the JET AIRWAYS counter is closed and that the flight has been pre-poned to 5:25am because of which she would not be allowed to board the flight. The nightmare had just begun. In a state of shock, my flustered mother calls me to speak to this ticketing agent, who is arrogance personified. The ticketing agent drones that the flight has been pre-poned to 5:25am (I can’t understand for the love of God as to why the first flight in the morning has to be pre-poned), and that this had been informed via SMS the previous day. She also notifies me that the counter closes 45mins before scheduled departure. I try to reason with her that they cannot expect people travelling from foreign countries to receive their pointless SMS, and that even if they had received one, they would be unable to change their international itineraries (my Mom showed this lady her India phone to prove that no SMS had been received) I made a futile effort of trying to knock some sense into this moron that even if check-in was to be done 45mins before departure, my mother was at the counter just in time. At this point, this diva tells me the flight is full and my mother now should talk to the manager. How can a flight be full if I have already paid for the ticket in advance??? We are told that next flight at 12:30pm is also full and there is only one ticket available for the 2:30pm flight for which my mother has to shell out an additional amount of INR 6500/-………. are you serious??? My mother goes from counter to counter looking for the so-called “Manager”, not to find one, repeating her story to every JET AIRWAYS personnel there. Can you imagine a 63yr old travelling with little sleep for 24 hours and longing to get back home to see her dear ones after she has travelled all alone? The apprehension in me to save my mother from more torture makes us fall for the systematic corruption of JET AIRWAYS and we book the 2:30pm flight for her, hoping that this would be the end of it… But is it??? My mother has to sit at the airport, tired, hungry and lonely for 10 long hours in the uncomfortable seating arrangement, without any facilities provided by JET AIRWAYS. Finally, at 1:30pm, when she goes for the security check, do you know what they tell her? Her current flight has now been delayed by half an hour! At last, my mother reaches Goa at 4pm, finally putting an end to her harrowing experience with this pathetic airline. Afterthoughts: My mother said there was another foreigner lady in the same situation and she yelled at these people and finally went on to book her tickets with some other airlines. She met another fellow passenger in the flight who had been left stranded from the previous night. My wife had a similar experience a couple of years ago, and guess which airways it was…. JET AIRWAYS!! Some may say that all flights do overbooking since people opt out at last minute and airlines have to bear the cost. But if you do overbooking, shouldn’t you provide proper arrangements to stranded passengers in such situations, like tie-ups with other flights or accommodation and why should the passengers pay again for the flight? Absolutely ridiculous… NEVER AGAIN WILL I FLY JET AIRWAYS!
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:17:43 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015