I traveled from Istanbul to Ahmedabad via Sharjah on 28th/29th June and they "lost" my bag -- when they found it and returned it after 3 days (they sent it by a private bus carrier and I had to go to their office to claim my bag, but the Cambata Aviation people gave me the locket/docket number only after 3 phone calls) all wrapped up in plastic, I opened it only to find the following items missing:
* a 8 GB flash drive with all the most recent files I had been working on for months before and during my conference in Istanbul, which was given to me by my son as a birthday gift (how the hell am I going to recover or replace these files?!);
* 3 cans of Turkish and Russian beer (out of 5 cans which I had bought for an old pre-diabetic uncle of mine who loves these exotic beer cans I bring back when I visit India -- he is allowed to cheat on his strict diet only when I visit once a year or so);
and
* about 5-10 USD in loose change in tenge, lira, etc.
The Cambata Aviation ground staff in Ahmedabad are very lax, incompetent and complacent and downright rude when asked for information or to act. While I am not 100% sure that they stole stuff from my bag, I have no other explanation forthcoming from them, besides the utter rot that they trot out. For instance, they tell me I cannot bring beer into Gujarat because it is a "dry state" (nonsense -- I am in transit and due to leave for Bangalore 3-4 days after my arrival and the beer is not meant for consumption in Gujarat).
Who in Air Arabia cares enough to act on this and the above complaints remains to be seen.
Till then I will pursue every channel or option open to me as an aggrieved and really aggravated passenger.
Ramesh Kini
0 comments