Well, you’ve read the good reviews, but how about the bad? As a travel blogger I will never subject myself to writing false reviews or ‘fake’ reviews for the hotels, restaurants, airlines, tours, etc. I believe in a full honesty policy, not just for my readers, but for myself.
So here it goes, my first terrible review and it’s all about IndiGo Airlines.
Here’s the story,
I had booked two flights with them the night before my first flight departed from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India. I wasn’t hesitant to book as I had heard nothing but wonderful feedback from everyone I had bumped into along the way.
Don’t get me wrong, the flight left on time, we arrived on time and the cabins were wonderful for the price you pay. To be honest, I’m not even that picky when it comes to airlines, especially not if it is a small one hour flight. I didn’t think anything could go wrong. Furthermore, my luggage was overweight and I wasn’t charged a fee, the airline attendants were wonderful and everything was extremely smooth and easy as I transitioned from Kathmandu to Delhi. So what was the bad part?
After everything was said and done, I exited the aircraft with a smile on my face excited to see Delhi until my mood flipped from heaven on earth to a sweaty, grumpy, impatient mess (yes, this is how I described my mood).
I waited at the baggage claim only to find my brand new ELLE bag completely ripped open. Though I’m not going to tell you I spent millions on it, I will tell you that the original price tag was well over $300 USD. For 2-3 uses? I just can’t imagine an airline having a justifiable answer as to why my brand new bag was completely ripped open along the seam. It looked as though someone had carelessly thrown my bag onto the pavement and dragged it along for a few minutes until they had ripped it open just enough for all my luggage to be falling out. Even the hard plastic was all ripped up and scratched from whoever decided to drag my bag across the floor before throwing it onto the baggage belt.
My first thought was to just sit and pout before heading for the exit until I realized that it was definitely unacceptable for the airline to treat it this way and I needed to stand up for myself once in a while. I walked straight to the ‘Baggage Enquiries’ booth with confidence and was told after about 10 minutes waiting in line that the IndiGo staff have not arrived yet and there is nothing they can do. They insisted I sit down and wait… and so I did. I did for so long that I watched the sun set from high in the sky until it was pitch black outside. I waited well over an hour. When the attendant I had spoke to finally decided to talk to the IndiGo staff… they weren’t a phone call away, not even a stone throw away… they were sitting right across from me in chairs all chatting away and laughing carelessly. I had been waiting for over an hour… watching these guys sit, laugh, chat and joke around for an hour… only to find out that that was who I was waiting for the entire time.
Finally, they got up and came to talk to me. Right away he said “There’s nothing we can do,” barely looked at my bag and insisted that there was nothing he could do. I explained that this bag was an expensive purchase and was quite new. He took another glance, snapped a picture on his phone, took a picture of my boarding pass and then looked at me and still insisted there was nothing they could do. He could see I was not impressed and asked me if I could wait a week in Delhi to get my bag repaired (repaired = stitched up with a thread). No, I don’t want to freaken wait a week in Delhi, I want a new bag.
A. I have a flight in two days to Bangalore (which I have heard is much better)
B. I’m not going to spend the extra money on a hotel in Delhi just to sit around and wait for you to ‘stitch’ up my bag.
C. No, just NO. This sucks.
So I give up, tell him how utterly disgusted I am with the airline and the way they handled the situation and walked away.
I arrived safely at the hotel after I was brutally ripped off by the taxi driver (A 3 dollar cab ride costing me 15 dollars with no choice to bargain). I got to the hotel and luckily, I just happened to find a good place that made me feel like family – The Hospitality Home Bed & Breakfast. They took care of just about everything for me so I could wind down and relax for the evening – laundry, taking me out for dinner, booking me a private taxi for the next couple days of Taj Mahal touring and best of all, a nice cool air conditioned room.
The one thing they couldn’t fix was my bag. They put a lot of effort into trying to get my bag fixed and were so well accommodating. They unfortunately came back to tell me that it was simply impossible to stitch through plastic and fabric. It would have also allowed my bag to split even more. So now I ask, what is the solution? Buying a new bag. Of course, of course that is the solution.
What would the airline had of done? Beats me, but I am quite sure that I would have waited the week only to hear back the same answer as the hotel quite promptly informed me. A multi-million dollar industry and you can’t even fix a bag?
Through it all, there was a long line of passengers all looking to file the same complaints not just with IndiGo but many other airlines as well. At Toronto Pearson… actually at all airports I have been to thus far (even the little sketchy ones)… none of them had line ups quite like the Delhi International Airport. Either IndiGo needs to get better policies going here, or someone needs to fire their staff who insist on dragging the passengers bags along the pavement until they burst at the seams.
Thanks IndiGo. Thanks for nothing but an expensive bag ripped all the way down the seams. Thank goodness for duck tape and a temporary fix until I get to Bangalore.
Go and buy your passengers some new bags, will you?
Sincerely,
Your first and last time flyer, Jenna Davis.
Check out some of my other handy tips on how to travel well:
How to Travel More and Pay Less!
