This is with regard to our travel from Kolkata to Delhi on flight 6E-206 under booking ref. VFFJLR. My complaint rises towards the insolent and brash behavior of the airline crew at the boarding gate who first behaved in an unacceptable manner by raising their voices at us and inciting us in to a heated argument, and then inexplicably disallowed us from boarding the flight, offloading our luggage and without providing us absolutely any reason for doing so. I am recounting the events below for your knowledge:
We arrived at the Kolkata airport at about 1540hrs and checked in our baggage.By about 1600hrs we were standing in the queue for security check, which in Kolkata is a terrible experience in the first place. At that point, even though our flight was being boarded, and there were crew from other airlines pulling their passengers forward, not a single staff from Indigo was present at our check-in gate. Moreover, we were not allowed to jump the queue by other passengers despite our plane on boarding status, and there was yet no sign of any Indigo staff member to assist us. Even so, by 1625 we had managed to clear security check and were running upstairs for boarding.
While we were rushing to the gate, one of the staff came onwards shouting "Delhi" from just near the gate and we rushed towards him. He asked for the boarding passes which were in my bag, and after I took them out and handed it to him, I was trying to zip my bag when he simply shouted at me saying, "Close your bag later, you come fast." When I say shout, he raised his voice impertinently in an utterly unprofessional and rude manner when we were only about 10 steps away from the entrance. I stayed quiet but was very slighted. It was still around 1628 - 1630 and the flight was not scheduled to take off until 1645.
When we reached the entrance I gave him a piece of my mind saying that the next time he should learn to speak better to passengers, and by angrily brandishing my index finger. While I had already handed my boarding pass to another person there, this man instead of admitting that he overreacted, was terribly rude in replying (again in a highly tempered voice) that we shouldn't be late in the first place! I lost my cool and gave him a definite hearing, including a profanity slip (not directed at him but to the “f-ing” airline staff for being so callous while other airline staff was much more active and helpful). I apologised also for the profanity but by this time while this heated argument was going on, the other staff member spoke to somebody over the walky and said "I'm not allowing these guys on the plane", and he had our luggage offloaded and without any reason left us there shell-shocked! Then those gents just huffed off from there without giving us any reason why we were disallowed to board the plane, until another staff came and told us to collect our luggage from the counter. We were also informed that we would not receive a refund for the ticket, but absolutely no explanation as to why this unfortunate circumstance was blown so heavily out of proportion.
Please note that neither was I under the influence of intoxicants at that point of time nor did I raise my hands on the staff, except brandish my index finger at the gent who started the shouting in the first place. On the contrary, he was quick to lay both his hands on my shirt, and it was not definitely in self defence but in an aggressive manner. We were insulted, our luggage was “offloaded” and we were left there to pick up the pieces of our humiliation without even a reason – and all this because I strictly told a man to be a little more professional with his customers in an angry voice?
Assuredly I will be taking more action against the airline even if that includes legal action. I am appalled by the behavior of the staff, and I have flown many airlines but none with such low quality professionals. I and my colleague have done absolutely nothing to have been so insulted and removed from the airline and we have had to incur huge costs for taking the next flight as I had to rush back to my presently ailing wife – a point I even raised when these gentlemen had simply chosen to turn a deaf ear to us! It was a waste of our time, our money and we had to endure a hugely traumatic experience because of the absolute apathy of these callous employees. We may have been behind the others for boarding but the flight was still a good 10 - 15mts from leaving. We would’ve been at fault had we kept the airline waiting beyond the expected time of departure or even if the flight had taken off after a no-show, but to be turned away at the entrance with the gates open AND with ample time for the airline to “offload” our luggage, any excuse in the airlines’ unprofessionalism is nothing more than a sore cover for absolute incompetency on the part of their staff and a huge blot on the quality of the airlines.
We are appalled by the immaturity and absolute show of egos by these two individuals who did not give a second thought about professional behavior or the repercussions on the brand’s reputation as a quality carrier – which assuredly I will raise fingers at through forums, social media and if necessary the press. I do not know the names of the individuals but the airlines could check on their names with one Mr. Mukhtar or a Mr. Abhishek (who were not present at the incident but were names we had overheard. Also, any recount they provide for the incident will be based on hearsay and would not be advisable to accept that as testimony as they were not even present at the place when we were shown the door).
Indigo airlines will be well advised not to disregard my complaint as consumers increasingly have a voice towards such apathy shown by their service providers, and my case is going to ensure that this voice is heard. My colleague and I have had to endure much trauma for this experience and we will demand an explanation and apology for this incident along with a complete refund of the ticket and compensation for our troubles.
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