KOLKATA: A 21-year-old college student, who had booked a flight to travel from Delhi to Kolkata to meet her ailing grandfather, was left stranded and in tears at Delhi airport on Friday after a ground crew allegedly tore her boarding pass.
AI officials said the complaint is being investigated and a response is expected shortly after the probe. “Strict action will be taken against the person concerned, including discontinuation of service from the Air India pool, if the complaint is found to be correct,” the official said.
The incident happened after Akshara Das, a third-year student at Miranda Hall, was made to wait at the AI counter for half an hour after being denied boarding because she was late by three minutes to reach the check-in counter to deposit her luggage. According to her, she was in the long queue for over an hour and did not hear any calls alerting passengers to step forward before the flight was ultimately closed.
“I was booked on flight AI 0764 that was to depart Delhi airport at 4.55pm. So I reached the airport at 2.30pm. Though I was web checked-in, I had to join the queue at the check-in counter to deposit my luggage. By the time I reached the counter, it was 3.58pm and I was told the process was already shut,” she recounted.
DGCA norms require passengers to check in at least an hour before the flight.
What happened thereafter left her shaken and in tears. When Akshara pleaded with a staff member about her case, she was asked to stand near another counter where other passengers faced with a similar predicament were waiting. When no one attended to them till 4.30pm, she approached the ground staff at the counter. The latter apparently asked for her boarding pass, tore it and rudely told her she wasn’t travelling. Passenger service for AI at Delhi airport is handled by AISATS
Dejected and sobbing, she was heading to the AI ticket counter to file a complaint when an airport official asked what the issue was and if she had the web check-in on her phone. He then asked her to go to the security check. There she asked if the bag she was carrying would be allowed on flight and was told it should not be an issue. But she was stopped at the boarding gate and told by the airline crew she could travel but without the bag.
Disgusted with the manner in which she was treated, Akshara filed a complaint at the AI airport ticketing counter and returned to her accommodation in Delhi. “The experience was so bad that probably I will never travel by AI again. I had missed the flight for no fault of mine but was treated like a criminal,” she recounted.
