This story dates back to 5-Nov-2011, when I was making my best efforts to return from London to Chennai. My experiences might seem funny and daft, but when I think about that now, it still gives me a horrendous picture.
So now, it is time to be back in India. The last time when I came here, it was a totally different experience. I landed in Dubai and then was connected to Chennai without any hassle. It was a nice and pleasant journey throughout, and Emirates Airlines offered an excellent service. But this time, I could not choose my airline, and my company decided the airline on my behalf, stating some stupid budget constraints – and to my dismay, it happened to be Air India.
This is the first time I am travelling in Air India, and I would say that this has been my most irritable and disgusting journey ever. Not to comment anything on the food and the kindness of the air hostess (probably that’s the natural kindness of the old aged people) – but I could spot a spider coming down to me as soon as I sat in my allocated window seat.
After a long journey with couple of Bollywood and Kollywood movies on the way, I have landed in India now. I am in Delhi GMR International airport. I was told in London Heathrow that I can collect my baggage directly in Chennai, and I felt happy that I need not do much with the 46 kgs. But you cannot predict and believe things when you are travelling in an Airline which is having a ‘GOOD’ relationship with its fellow pilots and other employees for various reasons.
You go and ask for transfers and they ask to go to this counter, that counter, etc… Surprisingly, none of these counters directed me to the proper place. Somehow in the very end, I saw a sign board ‘Domestic Transfers’.
Wow great – I think I finally found out. Two staff were giggling and talking to themselves, and they offered a mild grin when they saw me – in fact, they were confused if they can really offer that to me.
“Kya baat hai saar”
“Domestic transfers keliye aaya hoon”
“Theek hai, par idhar kyun aayaa?”
“Sign board voh hi bolthi hain”
“usko math dekhna, udhar ek queue hai naa, us me jaao”
Errrr…
I then stood in the queue for 15 mins and got the Great Indian seal in my passport in an orphaned page, where there are no traces of any visa or previous stampings. I asked that stamping guy where I can go. Hmmm.. Gasp Gasp,.. He only showed the direction without uttering a single word – seems he has been supporting Lokpal by observing Maun Vrat.
Once I crossed that point, one of the airport staffs politely came and asked if I am looking for my baggages. I did not expect an in(ter)vention from an unexpected and unwanted guy at the moment. I said I was not there for that, and I was actually looking for the connecting flight to Chennai. Yes.. I did not bother about the luggage initially, but thanks to the sign boards in Delhi airport, I could not spot the place in such a big airport where the transfers are done. In the interim, a legion of airport staff (hopefully of GMR or some outsourced company) told me that I need to collect the baggage in Delhi, do the custom clearance, and then re check-in at the domestic terminal. This was the moment I started feeling that I was already being screwed.
Sad part is, I could not spot a single helpdesk for Air India, or even a guy who had an Air India ID to confirm that the above said were all true (remember, I am in Delhi which is the national capital, and Air India is the state-owned carrier). The only counter for Air India which I found was ‘Lost baggage enquiry’ – and the most unfortunate thing that happened to me was to finally go there and report that my baggage did not arrive in the carousel.
It seems the staffs at Air India are so used to these kinds of reports – and not even a single muscle in their face reacted on hearing this. They could see the panic in my face, but they simply decided to ignore that. I furiously started asking why it did not arrive, when am I going to get the baggage, kind of questions.., and the reply was ‘mmm..yes.. It did not arrive, what to do?’. I was asking why it did not arrive and the guy was happily acknowledging that in a rudest possible manner.
Typical to any Government office, they asked me to fill a form stating that I have lost my baggage. I gave a Chennai address, and he was whispering to his colleagues that I was from ‘Madharaas’. They talked only in Hindi, and my efforts in making them replying in English went futile. They first told that my bags were not loaded in London itself, so there was no point for me to wait there. They asked to clear the customs and then proceed to the connecting flight, so that at least I would be on time to Chennai. I was amazed by this great gesture!!!
Then started the customs check. He asked me to open my hand bags and found that I had a laptop and a digital SLR – so he started bargaining for some ‘special treatment’ to get the customs cleared. He started blabbering that I had to pay 12k odd, and he pretended to fill the required bills for me. OK, this is not the time to be a senseless I decided – and paid him £20 to get rid of this honorary government servant (he asked for £50, and I could only bring down till this amount).
Meanwhile, somehow the ‘Lost Baggage Enquiry’ crew found my stuff from the flight from somewhere inside and got them for me. I wonder from where they got the information that the baggage was not loaded in London. Crap fellows I thought, and on the other end, I was happy that I got my things back.
Nevertheless, I missed my scheduled connecting flight because of this fiasco, and I was awarded another boarding card for a flight that supposedly takes off three hours later than the original flight given to me. I was already bored and fed up with the proceedings, and instead of monkeying about in the airport, I thought I could do something useful, as I usually think (but not do). Called up family members that I would be in Chennai at 7:30PM (2 hours delay compared to the original itinerary, still its ok to adjust after all these things happening today). Still felt I had a looootttt of time left out to board the next flight – hence this write up.
The Aftermath:
Not surprisingly, the flight came to airport after an hour of scheduled departure. What can be so different? Nothing. The flight from London to New Delhi was Air India, and the one from New Delhi to Chennai was Indian Airlines. At last, I was able to reach Chennai only around 9 pm.
As Murphy’s law goes, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”. And this is a fitting tribute to the airline.
Karthikeyan Ramachandran 