Air India ‘ill-treatment’ irks passengers

drinking water. Do we let a toddler cry from thirst? Is that right? Elderly people also had to bear inconvenience,” he said. “The original departure time was 9 pm. But by the time we were returned to Chennai airport and were shifted to other aircraft, it was already past 11 pm. Our flight landed in Mumbai at 1.40 am. All this while we were not even served food. We had entered the airport at 7 pm, and had thought we would have dinner after landing at Mumbai by 11 pm. But look at the callousness of the authorities — we were neither served water nor food.”

In his complaint, Gavali writes that the captain failed to make an announcement in Hindi about the return to Chennai. “When I asked why he didn’t make an announcement in Hindi, he insulted me. He also said that I should be thankful that he saved the lives of 200 passengers,” Gavali claimed.

But an Air India spokesperson said that the technical fault in the aircraft was a minor matter. “It was not a lifethreatening snag,” the official said.

Gavali said that the alternate flight disembarked at the international airport in Mumbai without any prior intimation. “In the dead of the night, at 2 am, we were running around to redirect our cars from the domestic airport to the international airport. The airline should have at least had the courtesy to inform us that we would be disembarked at the international airport, and not the domestic airport,” he said. “Our journey was nothing less than a nightmare. I travel by Air India to ensure that our money stays within the country. But who would want to face humiliation like this?”