© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A woman’s tweet on how travelling business class on an Air India flight left her with bed bug bites and pain generated quite a buzz on the Internet. Saumya Shetty took to the micro-blogging site with a picture of reddened lumps on her hands as a result of bed bug bites. Shetty wrote that she was travelling with her three children from Newark, New Jersey to Mumbai on July 18 and was not allowed a change of seat until “thirty minutes before landing” the next day after complaining twice.
These are her tweets.
https://twitter.com/saumshetty/status/1020295314878750721
Talking to indianexpress.com on phone, the 36-year-old said that she was met with a “callous, chalta hai-attitude” every time she reached out on their helpline numbers. “I called their helpline yesterday and asked for a refund of my tickets. I was given an email ID to write a complaint, but the mail bounced,” she said. She was asked to go to a nearby office of the carrier to pursue her case. “The lady executive (at Nariman Point.) told me I have been mailing on the wrong email IDs. I asked whose fault was it, in that case,” she said. “The woman said I’d be given a waiver, that is, I’d not be charged the penalty fee for cancelling tickets. When I said I wanted a refund of the tickets, she countered me by saying that I still travelled on those tickets.”
On July 24, Air India sent an email to Shetty but it had “no mention of compensation or refund whatsoever”. “Whilst the source of bedbugs entering the aircraft is being thoroughly investigated, we would like to inform you that the upkeep of our aircraft is now being continuously monitored to ensure that such a situation never recurs,” read a part of the email that Shetty shared with indianexpress.com.
“In this connection, Please be assured Ms Shetty, that the aircraft has been fumigated and temporarily withdrawn from service for special fumigation required for treatment of bedbugs. The seat covers have been replaced and the seat crevices also have been inspected and found satisfactory.” it further read.
In her response to the email, Shetty insisted on getting a full refund, taking into consideration the “emotional turmoil” she had to go through owing to the way her complaint was handled. We have reached out to Air India and are awaiting their response.
