I would like to recount the experience I had flying with Jet Airways on a holiday with my family. We were flying (three passengers) Mumbai-Delhi (9W331 on 22nd May PNR FQBNUV) then Delhi-Amritsar (9W 2633 on 22nd May PNR JPIZIF) and returning back Amritsar-Delhi (9W 2634 on 28th May PNR JPIZIF).
Well the Mumbai –Delhi sector was fine, just a bit of a delay.
In Amritsar we had planned to visit the Wagha border and needed to be there by 4.30 pm and later on visit the Golden temple stay the night and then travel to Himachal. Well after landing in Delhi I received a sms that the flight will leave at 14.10 and land at Amritsar at 15.35. We kept on waiting however there was no call for boarding. Whenever we asked at the Jet counter we were informed that we would take off shortly. At around 15.00 when I realised that the Wagha border trip is out (I had gone out of my way to see that we were allotted VIP seats) I lost my cool and asked for the true picture from the person at the gate. He took me on the side and told me that in all probability the flight is cancelled. We charged to the Kingfisher counter and were getting seats but as the flight was to take off shortly they could not wait for our luggage to arrive. Finally all the luggage arrived and after all the passengers made a hue and cry Jet conveniently cancelled their Jaipur flight (as there were only 6 passengers) and transferred the aircraft for our sector. Yes we finally did reach Amritsar at around 19.00 instead of 14.50.
I would like to appreciate the staff who offered me a taxi from Delhi to Amritsar or a hotel in Delhi. However I would have appreciated it if we could have been informed about the actual position much earlier so that we could have flown by an alternate airlines. Also till 16.00 the airlines schedule shown on the monitor was 14.10. Well the holiday did not start as expected but then all factors as a sleepy airline staff cannot be accounted for. I was not aware that the worst was yet to come.
Well we left Himachal around 8.00 so that we could make the flight at 15.20. We received an sms that the flight is on schedule and in fact would reach Delhi 20 minutes earlier. Till 12.30 the flight timings had not changed. At 13.51 we received a message that the flight was rescheduled to leave at 16.00 and would reach Delhi at 17.11. Yet enough time to take our flight back to Mumbai. On reaching Amritsar airport at 15.00 we were informed that the flight was cancelled more than an hour back. I have never experienced counter staff who are so unfriendly, uncooperative and cold in my life. Here the service they are offering has been cancelled, the least they could have been was apologetic and offer their concerns for the passengers. There were four staff in the room, out of which only one was attending to all the stranded passengers. I requested one lady Ms Shelly who took my ticket and then started working on the computer. After about 15 minutes when I did not receive any response from her I questioned her and she said that Mr. Vikas would attend and continued back with her work. When Mr. Vikas took over he just signed on the ticket that cancelled and full refund etc and put the stamp and all was over. I asked him what alternative arrangements can be done but his answer was “the flight has been cancelled” and then one of his sneery smiles. I was in a mood of creating a scene but then I realised that it would not at all effect these inhuman Jet staff. I then called my taxi again and charged to the station to catch a train but to no avail. Then with no other options I took a taxi from Amritsar to Delhi and reached Delhi at 2 am. Had to settle into a hotel for the night as we had already missed our flight and then next day take another flight (not Jet thank God) for Mumbai.
Here i would like to voice my sheer dissatisfaction for Mr. Vikas and Ms Shelly who need to be taught some manners as to how to talk to customers. Their behaviour was a typical Govt. Officer type approach. Also if the flight was cancelled at 14.00 we should have been informed at that time so that we could put the alternate plan into effect much earlier.
Well unexpectedly Jet screwed up my holiday as I had to again travel 10 hours by road from Amritsar to Delhi after travelling for 6 hours in the morning from Himachal to Amritsar. I had to pay 3, 000 extra for the taxi after deducting the airfare, 12, 500 for the hotel and 9, 900 extra for rescheduling the tickets for Mumbai.
Apart from the financial part I am really disappointed by the approach of your company and staff towards their passengers. Taking everything for granted and having no respect for the travellers is not acceptable. I have just used Jet for Bangkok in April but from now I am sorry I will never step on a Jet flight again and will also let others know of my experience so that they are also not put through the same ordeal.
MR. SUDHIR NEVATIA
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