IXC-DEL-MAA
1. The IXC-DEL flight was cancelled due to Fog and AI put all in a Cab to Delhi and provided accommodation in Delhi . Not sure any other airline does in india for Domestic Weather issues.
2. The Ticketing / Re-scheduling is smooth. I called and they protected me in a later flight - Which also I missed. So they accommodated in the next day flight. The re-ticketing was smooth thru the call center and counter in Delhi.
3. Though they put us in hotels for overnight, the process was chaotic. There was a SATS guy, filling in forms in 4 copies, writing down the name/ Ticket number, hotel and the duty manager has to authorize each. If AI decides to provide hotels, they should automate it.
4. The Next day, the dreamliner flight was full. I could/should've asked to be waitlisted. But choose a later flight at 10:30 AM, which was rescheduled in continuous manner till evening and finally took off at 4:30 PM. The Aircraft reached DEL in the morning (Spoke to the captain), flights were departing throughout the day, so could not be ATC / Fog issues. But there i NO reason given for the delay. the Passengers got angry and asked for the duty manager for operations to come and provide a reason. NO good reason was given. Poor communication from AI side.
5. It's almost like free seating and after all that, I choose to stay standing and took a exit row seat after everyone settled down. Opened the arm rest to get the PTV out, it is a mini trashcan with wrappers and everything. Is it how the cleaning crew maintains it? (Note it's a IC aircraft)
6. During the flight, we hit some patches, and the crew said, passengers keep seated - Repeatedly, whithout mentioning that this is due to the turbulence. Not that it matters, but for occasional fliers, it may be helpful.
Finally I was happy to be at home after 40 Hrs. The longest trip I've ever taken till now & first Weather issue in 10 years of flying in india (I'm Lucky)
Q1 : Does any other indian carrier provide alternate travel / Accommodation / re-booking for Weather issues?
Q2 : What caused the flight delay. Today I saw a news on few flights getting cancelled due to crew shortage.