We are passengers of flight 6e 961 (Pnr number: d8kdkf) which was scheduled to depart from kolkata (Ccu) at 21:30 and arrive at mumbai (Bom) at 00:15 on 9 september 2017. We had specifically booked this flight as we were boarding a flight back to south africa at 04:30 on 10 october 2017 and were required to be present at the mumbai airport 90 minutes before departure; which would have left us with more than a sufficient amount of time, had the indigo flight departed on time and as promised. The series of events which prevented this, took place as follows:
- we drove four hours from mayapur arriving at kolkata airport at 4:30pm;
- we immediately proceeded to check in at the indigo counter and proceeded through security by 17:00;
- after proceeding past the security gates we then received an sms from indigo at 17:45 that the flight was to be delayed to 00:05 on 10 october 2017 due to air traffic congestion at mumbai airport;
- upon receiving this sms we proceeded to contact the indigo call centre in order to find a solution for us not to miss our international flight back to south africa;
- indigo then referred us to duty manager at the boarding counter who was projoto;
- we then proceeded to inform projoto about the situation we were facing, seeking advice on any further delays;
- we were advised by projoto that the flight was to be further delayed and only depart kolkata at 00:40 due to a large pothole on the mumbai runway causing the runway to close and leaving a possibility for the indigo flight to be cancelled;
- after thirty minutes, we followed up with projoto who informed us that there would be no further delays and that he had arranged for indigo personnel to be present at the mumbai airport upon our arrival with our boarding passes to allow for us to promptly board our international flight;
- at 00:30 we enquired as to why we were not boarding the indigo flight as yet according to projoto's instructions and only then did he inform us that the flight had supposedly been cancelled;
-we were then sure that we would not make it for our international flight back to south africa and then requested the indigo duty manager to arrange for us to fly with indigo to dubai on the earliest flight so that we would be able to catch the last leg of our international flight which was to stop over in dubai;
- projoto blatantly laughed at us and stated that this would not be possible, leaving us with no further options;
- at 00:45 he then received a phone call and informed us that boarding gates we were now open for us to fly to mumbai;
- we were still made to believe that indigo personnel in mumbai had arranged our boarding passes and would be waiting for us to arrive at mumbai airport. We were provided with a contact number of the duty manager at mumbai airport (Nadeem) who was meant to receive us and keep our boarding passes;
- after boarding, the indigo flight took off at 01:40 and we were in communication with the flight attendant (Neha) regarding our situation who agreed to assist us in promptly existing the aircraft upon landing in mumbai;
- we landed in mumbai at 04:20, existed the aircraft with no assistance from nadeem and proceeded to baggage claim where our luggage was not fast tracked as promised by projoto;
- we proceeded to contact nadeem who informed us that he was unable to retrieve our boarding passes as promised and informed us that out international flight had departed.
- we had to demand assistance from nadeem, who then sent another indigo employee to transfer us to the international terminal, where we found nadeem;
- we explained to nadeem that we have now missed our flight back home due to indigo's delays and are now stranded with a 2 year old kid with no place to go.
- we received the standard indian response, "there's nothing that we can do!"
- after 7 hours of multiple encounters with indigo, the terminal management and emirates mumbai (Who told us that indigo was responsible) we were left with no option but to find our own means of getting home.
- we had to loan the funds to purchase air tickets back home at a total cost of zar 15 024.
- indigo airline needs to be responsible for this cost as it was due to their falsified information and "don't care" attitude that we missed our flight home.
We understand that flight delays are circumstantial and that carriers are bound by the regulations of airports authority of india; however, there ought to be contingency plans in place to prevent such catastrophes and protect the interests of passengers. As foreign nationals visiting a country which is meant to hold ethics and principles in high regard, we are extremely disappointed and appalled by the service we received from indigo and mumbai airport. A trip that was planned in advance to discover and develop an appreciation for our heritage turned out to be one of pure misery. From this experience we would not recommend travel to india especially not via indigo airlines to any of our family and friends in south africa. We require a refund of the costs borne to purchase additional tickets to south africa. Indigo claims to be a an award-winning airline and are now required to compensate us for our losses and debt due to indigo's poor service delivery. Should we not receive feedback regarding our refund, we will have no other option but to expose the airline to the broader public domain via social media.
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