Skyward Fire

Last Tuesday, I boarded Air India flight number AI 0746 from Dubai to Delhi and flight number AI 9409 from Delhi to Patna. I boarded in the second flight at Delhi Domestic Airport Terminal 1A after checking in a VIP Brown Soft Carry Bag (XH 481152) of weight 12 kgs, on counter number 19 at the same terminal. I arrived at Patna Airport at 8:20 AM in the morning only to find out that my luggage wasn’t there. As baffling as the immediate experience was, I reported the issue to the Arrival Baggage In-charge at the Patna Airport. Instead of filing a report immediately, I was told my luggage would probably come in the next flight inbound from Delhi at 2:00 PM, but I heard no such news from that particular Air India personnel. I was asked again by the same official to wait for the evening inbound flight, but my bag didn’t even come then.

According to general flying rules and regulations, the Airlines responsible is supposed to file a report and give a copy of the same regarding missing luggage to the passenger as soon as it is  realized that the bag is missing. But Air India, Patna did no such thing. Next day I went to the Airport again, and my report was finally filed after my request. Initially, I was told that my baggage would be stuck at customs at the Delhi International Airport. I had to explain them multiple times that I personally picked up the luggage T3 and carried it with me in the bus to Delhi Domestic Airport Terminal 1A to check it in for my next flight. If anyone disagrees, they can happily check the security cameras around check-in counter 19 at terminal 1A which would show me checking in a brown bag between 5:00 AM and 7:30 AM on the 18th of August, 2010.

The Air India people have contacted every single airport either by phone or by their internal messaging system, and all airports have reported a negative reply on the availability of my luggage at their locations. So the only possible scenario is the fact that whoever was handling my luggage at the Delhi Domestic Airport after it was checked in, or whoever was handling my luggage at the Patna Airport before it was brought to the baggage pickup trolley at the arrival lounge flicked it for themselves. I was the first passenger to arrive at the Patna Airport Arrival Baggage Trolley so there’s hardly any chance of any of the fellow passengers flicking it since I was looking for my bag right from the beginning till everyone had picked up their own bags.

The bags contents value at around Rs. 33573, or 2530 AED, or 700 USD, and every thing that was inside the bag is listed here. I don’t know how much will I be compensated by Air India, but that bag had my college certificates, my summer job employment certificate, all of my clothes, apparel and accessories, and plenty of other essentials I could have needed on a daily basis. I had absolutely no clothes to wear, since I am completely based in Dubai now. As unfortunate as this whole incident has been, I wish the Delhi Airport and/or Air India and or Airport Authority would hire people who’re not thieves. But as unfortunate it is, I don’t think that is ever going to happen.

On the 26^th of July, I was travelling from Patna to Dubai connecting in Mumbai on Kingfisher Airlines flight no IT 3571 and IT 43. A metal piece hitting the engine during take-off in Patna started an unforeseen chain of events, which led to the flight being grounded at the Ranchi Airport for over 7-8 hours. It’s kind of difficult to understand why the pilots headed by Commander Meera Pandey chose to continue flying despite being informed by Patna ATC of the incident. But anyways, Kingfisher is known for treating its flyers in a classy way, but the fact upheld itself in those 7-8 hours. The ground staff had no idea what was going to happen next and even if they did, they made sure we were kept confused until a late night flight arrived to take us to Mumbai eventually.

In situations like this one, it is the airline’s responsibility to accommodate everyone who’s being delayed in hotels, provide them with meals for as long as they are going to be there on the ground, make sure everyone who has mixed a flight after connecting is onboard the next flight to their destination and everything has to remain calm. But the Ranchi Airport staff had a bad day. Every flight has some moron passengers of course; who think verbal and physical abuse is actually going to resolve something. Some of these morons scuffled with the ground staff, and overhyped their stories when telling the media about it who were there on the scene.

It was wrong on their part, but it was also wrong on Kingfisher’s part to make us wait from 3:30 PM to 1:00 AM at the airport itself, that too, with only one meal being served at around 10 PM. I was really helped by Mr. Avinash who got in touch with Kingfisher’s Mumbai ground staff and ensured I was on the next first flight out to Dubai, because I just had to get there before noon of the 27^th of July. And so I did. I reached Mumbai around 3 AM in the morning and approached the Mumbai Kingfisher ground staff with my issue. The Guest Services Officer and specially the guy at the Kingfisher kiosk on the domestic airport were really helpful. The latter personally went to the Jet Airways kiosk to get me a Flight Interruption Manifest after making numerous calls and put me on a flight that got me to Dubai by 10:00 AM. And a lovely Kingfisher ground staff lady was waiting for me at the CSI Airport to make sure my FIM-to-Boarding Pass conversion process was as smooth as possible. So, thank you, all of you. And of course, the IT 3571 flight crew who were with us this painfully long journey and one of the flight attendants being my cousin added a little surprise value too.

A whole lot of my fellow passengers promised themselves to never fly Kingfisher again, but I am not one amongst them. Those people I mentioned from Kingfisher helped me out the best they could in a very adverse of situations in commercial flying, and I appreciate you guys for what you did. I will be seeing you again.

I’m going to keep it simple this time. Those unlucky readers amongst you who might have had the pain of dealing with State Bank of India probably know what I am talking about. There are a lot of reasons why SBI sucks. Here’s a few as to why is it to.

• A year ago back in August 2009, I used my SBI ATM card to withdraw Rs. 2000 from a Corporation Bank ATM. No money came out of the machine, I got a ‘Transaction Failed’ message, no receipt came out, but my account got debited Rs. 2000. I contacted my SBI branch and they asked me to draft an application mentioning my grievance. I did so, but I never got to see 2000 INR again and I never heard from the bank regarding the same again. I live in a different country, so I came back after a year right now. I asked them about it again, and I was made to run from one Babu’s table to another.
• Since 25th of June, 2010 I have been trying to change the phone number registered with the Bank for all Internet Banking transactions. I first wrote an application, and then I was asked to print and fill up an approval form to be given to the bank. I did both, and then I was told the number registered with them for the change is different than the one I mentioned on the approval form. I asked them if I could change that on the website itself. There is no such option on the website, but the lady at the branch kept insisting that option was there. So I took a screenshot of the page and showed it to her. Finally, she agreed with me. So I filled up another approval form and submitted it. The change is still pending.
• I wrote an email to the customer care of the bank regarding the same but the only reply I ever got from them was an automatic mailer mentioning the complaint ticket number.
• My ATM card isn’t working, probably because I haven’t used in more than 10 months for withdrawing any money. When I try to use it at an ATM outlet, it says the PIN I entered is invalid. I have been using the same PIN for a while now and I got no such message. So I wrote another application asking them to change the PIN, and they say the new will arrive in at least 15 days, and I will have to come pick it up personally. What the fuck? What’s so lengthy and sophisticated about this that it is going to take 15 fucking days? And how hard is it for them to mail me the new PIN by post if they’re going to be charging me a 100 bucks for issuing me a new PIN?
• They claim to have a dense network of ATMs all across the country. Out of the 10000 ATMs they might have in the country, 8000 never work and the shutter is always down. 1500 are crowded with long fucked up line, and the remaining 500 are in such remote places that no one ever visits.

So in the end no matter how user friendly, paperless and customer caring State Bank of India claims to be, there is absolutely no truth to all that bullshit. I am going to personally do my best to avoid dealing with them in the future and would recommend the same for everyone.