19 Oct....Abu Dhabi - Kochi flight makes an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram due to bad weather. Passengers protest when told by the Air India management that they'd be transported to Kochi by road. After a see-saw battle of wits between the two sides, the flight takes off after seven hours, manned by a different set of crew! The 'hijack' drama, that happened in the course of events, is being investigated
20 Oct....Doha - Kozhikode - Kochi flight lands at Kochi directly as Kozhikode has bad weather. The passengers for Kozhikode are kept waiting and reach their destination after 10 hours, again after a serious stand off between the passengers and the Air India management!
And what is common between the two flights? They're the so called cheap and low fare 'Air India Express' flights catering to the needs of thousands of ordinary Malayalees, eking out a livelihood in the Gulf region. A majority of them are from economically backward families and have opted to go through the hard grind as they've no other option in getting a decent job, back home!
Consequently, they can't speak the propah' English with an 'Oxbridge' accent and are at times, a bit easy on manners while interacting with the others! So, what does the Air India crew and the ground staff at the airports do? Treat them as 'cattle class'! If they've the audacity to complain about their in-flight predicaments or about the pecadilloes meted out to them by the ground staff at the airports, they've to be taught a lesson. Period!
An old Indian weakness. When will we ever learn? When will we learn to respect the rights of the 'customer'?
Tailpiece.
Why're we bothered about a customer's background? To provide preferential treatment? And to what avail?
You'd better have a lineage or have 'connections', to brandish, for travelling trouble free! We're class conscious, you see!!
20 Oct....Doha - Kozhikode - Kochi flight lands at Kochi directly as Kozhikode has bad weather. The passengers for Kozhikode are kept waiting and reach their destination after 10 hours, again after a serious stand off between the passengers and the Air India management!
And what is common between the two flights? They're the so called cheap and low fare 'Air India Express' flights catering to the needs of thousands of ordinary Malayalees, eking out a livelihood in the Gulf region. A majority of them are from economically backward families and have opted to go through the hard grind as they've no other option in getting a decent job, back home!
Consequently, they can't speak the propah' English with an 'Oxbridge' accent and are at times, a bit easy on manners while interacting with the others! So, what does the Air India crew and the ground staff at the airports do? Treat them as 'cattle class'! If they've the audacity to complain about their in-flight predicaments or about the pecadilloes meted out to them by the ground staff at the airports, they've to be taught a lesson. Period!
An old Indian weakness. When will we ever learn? When will we learn to respect the rights of the 'customer'?
Tailpiece.
Why're we bothered about a customer's background? To provide preferential treatment? And to what avail?
You'd better have a lineage or have 'connections', to brandish, for travelling trouble free! We're class conscious, you see!!
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