How Indian airline staff makes the life of a flyer miserable

Couple of weeks back, an unpleasant personal encounter with Go Air brought to the fore the poor passenger policy that many airline operators in India have. For a service-sector like airlines, this does not bode well. Despite few attempts by DGCA, the ordinary passenger finds himself at the mercy of the airline, and there is very little the aggrieved can do. A passenger-friendly policy, while keeping interests of airlines intact, is the need of the hour.

Let me narrate what happened to me and my family on January 31, 2016. Our Go Air flight to Mumbai, which was due to depart from Bhubaneswar at 8am, was rescheduled to 8.40am for which I received a message the previous evening. After we checked in at the airport, to my utter dismay, boarding had not begun and all passengers were just waiting. While no information was furnished by Go Air staff, people could see through the glass pane some work being undertaken in the aircraft.

8.40 finally became 9.20 when boarding started and the flight took off at about 9.40, a good hour delay from the rescheduled time. Now it would have all been fine but for my next flight which was at 12.15 from Mumbai. What originally had a good two hours' gap between the two flights was now reduced to about 45 minutes. I brought it to the notice of the cabin crew, who clearly weren't serious about the issue and on repeating my problem thrice, assured me that the pilots will talk to the ground staff and my early exit will be facilitated.

What happened when the flight landed at Mumbai was appalling. When I asked one Mr Vishal, the crew head, about what happened to my request, he said I would be assisted by their ground staff and arrangements will be made. Only when we exit the aircraft did we realise that nothing had been done. The ground staff, feigned genuine ignorance, and directed us to baggage collection, a good distance opposite the direction we should have been heading to catch the next flight.

It was almost a lost battle now. With an infant with us, the predicament was huge. After collecting the baggage when I asked to be connected to someone in operations of Go Air, I was, rather reluctantly, given the number of Mr Sushant, who, coolly cited DGCA rules, under which basically Go Air wouldn't do anything. The next flight, eight hours since, and at an exorbitant price had to be booked and with nowhere to go to in Mumbai, the situation was pitiable.

We finally reached Mangalore at 10pm in the night and home at Manipal by midnight. A horrible day ended but the ordeal did not. The missed Spice Jet flight had to be called for a paltry "no-show" refund, which again had to be requested to the booking website MakeMyTrip to furnish, and all of which takes quite a few phone calls and e-mails to actuate. My pleas to Go Air on technical and humanitarian grounds fell on deaf ears and on the other hand, the small refund has still not arrived.

There have been instances earlier when people I know, in a similar situation were helped by the airline in getting the boarding pass from the next airline, baggage collected on priority and taken to the boarding gate. While rules are paramount, service sector players facilitate their customers within the ambit of such rules, to attract loyalty. But that was clearly not the case to be for Go Air. They have alienated me and many others who have been unhappy to hear about this incident.

This incident is just a reflection of passenger policies that civil aviation and airlines have. The maze of rules that DGCA has is easy for anyone to get lost in. The channels of grievance lodging are so confusing that a passenger would get frustrated trying. The layers that airline operators, tour websites have built to address complaints, prima facie appears to desist people from pursuing such grievances. The point of contacts, the appellate authority, are behind a glass wall where the voice of an average passenger does not reach.

For a service sector like the airlines, this should not be the case. News of a passenger receiving huge sum of money as compensation for him missing office due to delay by airline are one off cases where the aggrieved has the grit to pursue it in a court of law. Not everyone has the resources to do so. DGCA should bring in more humane approach in addressing people's problem. For example, I was told that DGCA prescribes a three hour gap between connecting flights and that I had two hour gap makes me further ineligible to get placated by Go Air.

The lack of alacrity, disinterested behaviour of Go Air staff was perhaps nothing exceptional since in the domestic airline industry, more than a quarter of complaints are about poor customer service and about one-tenth about rude staff behaviour.

Aviation industry in India faces numerous challenges, one of which is not having a very passenger friendly policy. With the numbers of flyers increasing, with the government pushing for more airports, allowing more players and even thinking of modifying certain constraining rules to boost the sector, it is imperative that the policies that deal with passengers and those aggrieved are looked into.