Dear sir/madam
As an air India traveler having travel-led from U.S.A. to Hyderabad (INDIA) along with my wife, I would like to bring to your notice the humiliation and mental torture we were put to and also the nasty way we were robbed of our belongings at Bombay international airport by your airport staff/workers. A number of memorable items which were given to us by our children, were lifted away by tampering with luggage bags and left us with bitterness. We booked our luggages by united airways from Kansas city on 9/3/08 by 2.37pm flight and the connecting air India flight from Chicago to Bombay took of at 9.30pm at the same day and reached Bombay airport at 1.30am on 11/3/08. We were asked to collect our luggage at Bombay itself and get customs clearance instead of at Hyderabad as scheduled. As the luggages (4no.s) were not seen on the conveyor belt i approached the counter near by meant for baggage complaints. After about half an hour they collected the luggage from somewhere behind and brought to me mounted on trolleys and handed over to me. Though the luggages were found shrunk, i thought it may be due to pressure on journey. I got customs clearance and carried the luggages to domestic terminal for on ward journey to Hyderabad. On reaching home i found several items stolen from the bags. It is evident beyond doubt that instead of allowing bags to go on the conveyor belt some of them are detained and tampered with. Here i may mention that one more passenger from the same flight was seen at the counter worrying about his luggages.
As this is one side of the picture the other side is that we booked our tickets for journey from Kansas to Hyderabad six months earlier and also got it conformed three weeks earlier to the journey date. While the Air India flight reached Bombay at 1.30am on 11/3 the connecting flight to Hyderabad was at 5.40am same day (as mentioned in the tickets). When i approached the air India counter at International airport to enquire of our boarding passes to Hyderabad, the only official present at the counter did not even see the tickets and bluntly told that the connecting plane already left and nothing could be done. With much difficulty i explained that my connecting flight was at 5.40am and it was only 2.30am at that time. At this he was telling that the 5.40am plane has been canceled. I had to request him to arrange for our journey by the next available flight that is at 8.00am. He enquired our names and took out a printout and gave it to me for handing over at domestic air India counters. At about 3.30am when i approached domestic air India counters i was told that only one seat was mentioned therein that is for my wife and my name was not mentioned and as such only one boarding pass can be issued for the 8.00am flight for my wife. When i asked about my seat i was asked to approach at 7.00am. As there was no way left for me i waited there with my luggages mounted on trolleys and no where to go till morning. At 7.30am after waiting for four hours we were given the boarding passes for the 8.00am flight and the luggages got booked. It all appeared we were allowed make the journey by someones grace. With no sufficient money in hand, no known person in the vicinity and un-certainity of getting seats in the next available flight the mental torture we were put to for four long hours was the air India's gift for us for the trip.
Here it may be worth mentioning that during our journey from India to U.S.A. (Kansas) six months back, due to some delay at the customs clearance we missed our connected airlines flight at Chicago. It was night time and we were five in number when we approached the staff at the U.A. counter and explained the matter they were so kind that they have arranged for our journey for the next morning flight and also arranged accomidation in a hotel for the night stay.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE LIST OF ITEMS FOUND STOLEN FROM THE BAGGAGES,
ITEM COSTING AROUND U.S.DOLLARS
DVD player 50 dollars
RODENT repellent devices set... 75 dollars
shoes 4 pairs... 260 dollars
watches 6 numbers... 285 dollars
children dresses... 225 dollars
binoculars... 70 dollars
glucose test strips (4 packets
each 50 dollars)... 200 dollars
fancy pearls chains (4)... 245 dollars
soft toys (12)... 90 dollars
decorative flowers for door
decoration sets (6 items)... 90 dollars
fancy hair clips (1 dozon)... 230 dollars
ear rings (10 sets)... 120 dollars
&&&&&&&&-
1940 dollars
&&&&&&&&--
Finally I request the AIR INDIA to feel the responsibility and componsate my loses as mentioned. Early action is solicited in the matter.
MY LUGGAGE NUMBERS
I booked at Kansas 0016UA-454800
454801
454802
454803
I booked at Bombay 0058 IC 606443
606444
606445
606442
My ticket no's-0982652052555/56
0982652052553/54
Your’s sinciereley,
G. Mallikarjunarao,
Sambasiva nagar,
Near RTC bus depot,
Ponnur, (post)
Guntur (dist)
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