My Name is: Ayalur Subramanian Annapoorni
My passport number: H8671791
My ticket number: Document 098 -9770058785
My return flight from Austin-New York on 12th December
My original Itinerary:
1) Austin to New York by AA684 on 12th December at 9.40am%% reaching New York at 14.30%%
2) New York JFK to Mumbai by AI-140 on the 12th of December at 21:30 reaching Mumbai at _22.15%__
Unfortunately my return journey turned out to be a nightmare.
To make things simpler, let me use a numbered format to describe the sequence of events.
1) The day before my travel, we called Air India to reconfirm my flight. We were told that my flight was rescheduled and it was now at 16:00 hours instead of the original 21:30 hours. No one had emailed me or texted me to inform me of the change. I panicked because this would only give me an hour and a half at New York JFK to change over. We asked the agent if they could reschedule us on an earlier flight but he said an hour and a half was OK according to Air India’s policy. We were very skeptical about that, but your customer care (CC) personnel assured that it would be enough.
2) The next day, on 12th December, as planned I reported at Austin Bergstorm Airport at 7 am, on 12th. As American airlines would land at JFK at 14.35 hours the agent refused to let me take the flight to JFK since they said the baggage would not make it to the next flight. According to their policy they needed at least 1 and a half hours between the connecting flights. The American Agent called Air India to see if they could resolve the problem and to our surprise, the Air India agent said their policy was a minimum of 2 hours!! This meant that the information they gave me over the phone the previous day was completely inaccurate. Also, the agent said they could do nothing about my situation.
3) I begged and pleaded with both agents over the phone and I reiterated to Air India that their original flight was 21:30 and they had combined two flights (JFK to Delhi and JFK to Mumbai) to change the flight time to 16:00 hours (this was the time the JFK to Delhi flight was supposed to depart). I was not responsible for missing my flight if the event occurred due to their schedule change.
4) American Airlines told me they would take me to New York but they could not accept my luggage. My daughter and son-in-law were traveling to India by American Airlines that same day. My daughter asked American Airlines if they could take my baggage with them. American accepted this but said we would have to pay an extra 100 US Dollars (50 dollars per bag). Left with no other choice, we made the payment and the baggage traveled with my daughter on her flight to India via London.
5) When we entered the terminal after security, we found out that the American Airlines flight to New York was delayed due to bad weather. I immediately contacted Air India about the situation. They again washed their hands off the affair. Remember that all this was occurring due to their schedule change. If my flight from New York were at 21:30 as scheduled before, I could have easily made it.
6) When I reached New York airport, I ran to the Air India counter at my terminal. I was astonished to see the counters vacant. Not a single person from Air India was around. I phoned the AI customer service toll free number. I was asked to go to The American Airline agent and was asked to talk to the AI customer care executive, from there. So again I ran to the terminal number 8.The agent directly talked to AI and your CC service executive told they could not do anything. I was requesting them to put me in any other flight. They asked me to meet the duty manager there. Again I went to terminal 4, but in vain. No one was there either. When I enquired with airport authorities, they said only three hours prior to the flight, anybody would appear.
7) I had no choice but to wait at the airport from 17:30 hours on the 12th of January to 16:00 hours on the 13th of January. Air India did not even bother to offer me any food or accommodation. Since I am a pure vegetarian, I could not eat anything at the airport. I do not understand American Accent well so I could not ask for descriptions of what was in each food item. All I had for the next 24 hours was a cup of coffee. At around 10 AM on the 13th, after more than 15 hours of waiting at the airport, I almost fainted of hunger and fatigue. I am 55 years old. I had spondylitis and mild arthritis too. Because of my mental and physical trauma my problems were aggravated. On the 13th at 11.30 AM or so AI agents came and opened the counters. I stood in the queue And got my tickets reserved, on AI -140, on 13th and reached Mumbai on 14th at 22:00 hours.
My Grievances:
1. AI should have informed me earlier, so that I could have cancelled my tickets on American Airlines (Austin to New York) and taken some other flight according to my departure time from JFK or other airport
2. AI should have considered what its passengers would go through before rescheduling a flight to depart 5 hours before its original scheduled time!
3. I anticipated the problem and asked your agents repeatedly if 1 and a half hour was enough time for transit at JFK airport. They said it was. And this turned out to be false even going by your own policy which is 2 hours.
4. I had to shell out 100 US dollars so my luggage could reach India, all because of your rescheduling.
5. AI should have had the minimum courtesy to take care of me for 20 hours; they should have provided me a hotel accommodation, so that I could have been safe. Or put me in a different flight so that I could have reached India at the earliest and joined my husband who is 65 years old and sick and alone.
I request Air India to attend to my appeal and compensate me for all the trouble and inconvenience caused and the money (100 US Dollars) we paid extra for the baggage At Bergstorm American airline counter.
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