Mangalore: Festive Plans Go Awry - Air India’s Christmas Shocker for Gulf Passengers
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SB)
Mangalore, Dec 26: For many of Gulf-bound passengers this Christmas, Air India Express turned into festive spirit dampener when their flights failed to take-off on scheduled time.
Several flights bound to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Kuwait were either cancelled or delayed for hours and the result unbelievable inconvenience faced by the passengers. The chaos witnessed at Mangalore Airport was one of the worst in the recent times.
Several passengers were very expressive of their dissent that the Air India officials were rendered helpless as far as effectively managing the irked passengers or in calming their nerves were concerned. Many passengers, who were successful in getting a ticket during the Christmas paying thrice the amount lost their temper and gave the local staff their piece of mind, while few other passengers were seen pleading other airlines to start a direct service in order to avoid Air India Express in the future. Certainly, the officials here had to pay the price for irresponsible attitude of top officials in Mumbai.
On December 24, 2009 Dubai-bound flight was delayed for good 24-hours, finally taking off only on the next day. But passengers waiting to reach other destinations were in for greater shock with flights either being rescheduled or cancelled at the last moment even on the day of Christmas.
The efforts were made by Air India local staff to accommodate Dubai passengers in the night flight, and some of them were sent through Indian Airlines via Mumbai. The unprofessional approach and plans going awry resulted in greater trouble for the passengers for many of flight commandants had gone on Christmas leaves, especially the commandants of foreign origin who were away on at least a weeklong holiday from December 24 onwards.
It was Air India's duty to plan in advance or inform passengers in advance, as no commandants can take offs the last minute. "Commandants applied for leave well in advance, but Air India top officials have made no alternate efforts. Perhaps the shortage of commandants in the airlines has come to the fore due to the said incident. Similar situation arose in British Airways, but the airways had informed the passengers in this regard at least a week in advance. Moreover, alternate arrangements too were in place, said one of the officials at the airport in condition of anonymity.
Some of the passengers who spoke to Daijiworld from airport expressed fears of losing their jobs on account of being unable to reach the duty on time. The recession has already taken its toll in Dubai, and employers are not going to give many chances. In fact they look forward for lapse from the end of employees," said one of the passengers who was ordered to report to duty on Saturday December 26 by 9.00 am.
"We had planned to celebrate Christmas in Dubai, as many of our relatives are living there. They were all eagerly anticipating our arrival. But this Christmas there was no rejoicing as for the celebration we were neither here nor in Dubai. The national carrier has very little concern for its passengers' sentiments," said another family. "No compensation will console us as we lost the opportunity to enjoy this Christmas," added another lady, who was waiting to join her husband for Christmas. "We do not want to blame local Air India staff for they were helpless. They tried their best, but a miscommunication with the higher-ups did them in. If the flight did not arrive at Mangalore, why should we blame local staff? Further, as far as we have witnessed the local airport lacks adequate staff, added another gentleman sympathizing with the local staff of the airline.
When Daijiworld contacted Air India officials in Mangalore, they informed that the leave availed by commandants disrupted the flight service. We tried our best to inform the passengers through phone or e-mail. Unfortunately majority of the passengers failed to record the correct number while booking tickets. There were several others we could not reach through any of these medium. We surely feel for the plight of our valued guests, but we were helpless as the situation was out of our control, the airline official added.