The story thus Far* Air India Flight 747 (Dec 13-14, 2007) passengers are delayed not only because of fog on the tarmac but a fog of information inside the terminal. For twenty hours there are no hotel beds offered and only food and water when passengers asked for it. Officials hide in their office unwilling to communicate openly with passengers.
* The articles in the last month illustrate consistent customer abuse by Air India.
* A medical doctor on Flight 747 says that Air India’s sickness is terminal.
Masking the Smell of Death
Passengers checked in by 5.30pm on Thursday evening and the plane did not leave for Dubai until Friday after 4.00pm. How long had people been traveling before they reached the Delhi airport?
You can imagine the smell in the airport as almost 200 passengers try and find a place to sit, lie down and some of them, take off their shoes! By the time passengers board after being stranded for 20+hours with no opportunity for taking a shower you can almost catch the whiff inside the Airbus.
If there had been passengers traveling first class (and there were none) they would have been complaining of the obnoxious effluvium. If there had been passengers traveling business class (and there were none) they would have detected the unpleasant aroma. All passengers, packed like sardines in the economy section, were confronted by the dirty rotten stink.
The Air India airline stewards found the smell so unbearable, the first thing they did when passengers were all buckled up was to walk the full length of the aircraft in both aisles with upturned bottles of Old Spice, soaking the carpets to sweeten the putrid atmosphere.
When it came time for passengers to disembark the stewards were not standing at the door giving their usual smile and ‘Thanks for flying with our airline.’ Instead stewards were standing sideways towards the flight crew cabin, holding their noses and looking for some pegs.
One can’t blame the stewards, as they are pawns between the airline’s inept management and the angry frustrated passengers.
Protest Effective?
Since Flight 747 on 13-14 December the stories are still being posted concerning Air India’s delays but it is heartening to see that the company is starting to offer hotel beds (at the Grand Delhi) to passengers who recently have been delayed for 11 hours.
It looks like the concerted protesting at the terminal, the establishment of web sites, the newspaper articles and the many airline quality reviews are starting to get the message through to Air India.
Passengers on Flight 747 are still waiting for a formal response to their letter from Air India's management.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Old Spice. Air India’s most creative answer to its own rottenness.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Old Spice. Air India’s most creative answer to its own rottenness.
