Air India... the more you think about it... the more you hate it! What else can I say? I am a student in the University of Kansas. I was coming back to India for the Christmas break after a wonderful first semester... and little did I know that this "sweet" trip would unravel one of my worst nightmares...
I boarded AI 102 from NY and was on my way to Calcutta... I chose 17K as my seat number for this flight months ago... When I was handed my boarding pass... my preferred seat was changed to 9C... but that was not the end of the story... when I boarded the flight, I began to unwind... I took out a book to read, set my cabin luggage aside and started to listen to my i-Pod. However, my relaxation was short-lived as a couple arrived there to claim that 9C was allotted to one of them... after a confusion of 15 minutes or so, I was re-directed to a new seat 24 B... By that time, there were not any empty slots left near 24 B for me to put my cabin baggage... Moreover, since I am a tall and strongly built person, I always prefer side seats... To my utter displeasure, I was stuck in a middle seat for the next 14 hrs of my journey with my cabin luggage nowhere in my near sight... THANKS TO AIR INDIA...
Now, I had to change my aircraft at New Delhi before I were to arrive in Calcutta... so I did. After reaching Calcutta, I found out that one of my checked-in baggages were missing... I had to stand in a queue for more than 1.5 hrs... just to register the complaint...
The luggage arrived 2 days later and my uncle collected it on behalf of me... Within the next 30 hrs, I had the baggage in front of me... To my horror, the baggage was unlocked... I USED THE SAMSONITE TSE LOCK... AND THERE WAS THE TSE TAG ON MY BAGGAGE when I boarded the Delta flight...
When I got the baggage, the status of the baggage was indicated as: UNLOCKED! It was disgusting... But, it was even more disgusting to know the surprise I had in the store for me when I opened my baggage...
I had a Seagate External Hard Disk in this baggage... I realized that it was no more... This hard disk contained various financial, academic and personal data of mine... I work as a student researcher in KU... and the bulk of the data of my research work was on this hard disk... The photocopies of my passport and visa were also there on the hard disk... then, there were some personal pictures of me and my family... Can I sleep in peace anymore?? If these data fall into some wrong hands... I don't really know what would happen to me... If someone misuses my passport information... if someone tries to tamper with my financial information... I don't know what is going to happen!
However, the sad part is... I can not decide if I was wrong in keeping that hard disk in the checked-in baggage thinking that it was secured by the TSE lock... or if I was wrong to afford the services of Air India to travel to India... Maybe, I over-estimated the honesty, courtesy and customer friendliness that Air India vows to abide by!
Air India... you suck! It is high time, that this worthless company (I wonder if its fit enough to be called as a company anymore) should banish itself... What are you going to do next, AI??..Pay me some hundred rupees for my loss, huh? Do you think that the info. that I have lost can be replenished with money? What if some terrorist misuse my info. to organize another 26/11? I ASK: WHERE IS YOUR PLEDGE TO SECURITY? IT HAS HAPPENED SO MANY TIMES... BUT WHAT DO YOU DO?? Just throw out money on our face with a pathetic voice of apology!
Right now, I should be celebrating the conclusion of my first semester at KU with my family! But, look... I am here, writing this piece of junk against a bigger junk: Air India... I don't know anything for sure now... but all I know is that I would never board an Air India flight again in the future... I have learnt my lesson... but, I guess, Air India has not!
Baggage Number: DL242878
Flight Number: AI102
Abhishek
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