Geejay

Hey,

I have a flight back to London on the 24th (September) and I just received an horrifying email stating that my MAA-DEL has been cancelled due to "operational reasons".

Are there any other routes that are affected as well? I've sent an email to IT - hopefully they have some kind of back-up plan.

Cheers.

snod08

Welcome to FT!

It would be better if you tell us:
What is the exact routing:
What airlines other than IT are involved.
How did you buy your ticket (direct from airline, third party, etc).

Then we can offer ideas.

Geejay

Hey

MAA-DEL-LHR -- IT all the way. Bought the ticket direct from airline..

I think this is cause of the A320s being grounded, but that's just a speculation.

So was wondering if anyone had other theories..

snod08

i notice that the DEL-LHR and the BOM-LHR flights are operating that day.

So, you should simply call them and ask them to reroute you through BOM or simply get you to DEL in another way.

They should be able to do this easily.

aniruddh77

Absolutely. If its IT all the way, they bloody well re-route you ! Else, kill em

galaticos

yep - second that...they should re-route but if hte A320's are grounded, might have to do multiple legs on ERJ's to get to BOM/DEL

abhilife2001

maybe Mr mallaya needs to reduce some losses for this..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6423968.cms

really wonder whts happenning in IT..
btw..any particular reason u made the tickets for IT since there are many other flights to LHR ..

Keyser

if you bought the ticket directly from the airline & its all kingfisher then you should not have a problem....tell them to either put you on another kingfisher flight or another airline to get you to delhi....

Geejay

Update:

I just got off the phone with Kingfisher, and am quite frustrated with the way they handle things.

First, I was offered to be rerouted via BLR since they've cancelled all morning MAA-DEL flights indefinitely. Then he said that the transfer time may not be sufficient, so he would have to ask me to cancel my ticket and get a refund. (WHAT THE !!!!) I told him that it may not be an option as with just under a month it might be very expensive to book a ticket now.

He has promised to call me back after he checks with chennai airport but he did say that IT will not be able to put me on another airline or provide me accommodation (not sure why he said that).

My itinerary ends at LHR, so do I get backed by the Regulation 261/2004 with respect to compensations ?

Thanks and sorry for the long message.

Geejay

Haven't heard back from them - guess they lied.. not really surprised.

Will call them back tomorrow, and get this sorted and post here.

oliver2002

Take a good read of the relevant IATA resolution on invol reroutes: http://www.caymanairways.net/iata/ma...st-Ed-2002.pdf
and get nasty from the start, IT is cash strapped and will try to avoid putting you on another airline, but that is what they have to do. With 735d you can be put on any airline between MAA and LHR, so do some research what options you have, ie what alternative flights are available on all carriers (and by available I mean if they are still selling seats).

abhilife2001

thanks for this link oliver.. really helpful for ready reference if needed in the future..^

Geejay

This is bloody pathetic! I called in now and the person was well slow and suggested taking the flight a day early and wait at the airport for about 18 hours!!!

She said the refund will be ca. 12000 rupees which won't cover any other airline I could book with - and I don't want to bear the cost of someone else's mistake!

I am sure there are several other people who are affected by this Chennai-Del routing issue and would like to hear what you decided to go with.

The customer "care" person had a tone of I-don't-care and kept giving me the " Can you please hold.. blablabla" -- I am genuinely sick of calling them and hearing the same thing over and over again. The last time I was promised to be called back, but wasn't!

Does anyone have an idea? ANYTHING WOULD DO!



Update:

I called in again, and this time a friendly person said she could try and book me on a Air India or Indian Airlines flight for MAA-DEL however she said that it would be impossible to do it prior to 24 hours before departure. SO I am going to have to wait till the day before my departure to hope I could fly then. But she asked me to go to the airport and check with the Kingfisher desk to try to book with IC.

I am not sure how things work here (India), but can you just walk into an airport and go to the ticketing desk?

Keyser

all the ticketing desks are located just before the enterance at the airports....so you should have no problems there....

dd1612

MAA --> DEL load factors have been an issue with IT ... and with all other airlines.

You are probably better off asking them to put you on the MAA-->BOM--> LHR routing as it is IT's action to cancel the flight that has caused this issue.

Why did the CS agent ask you to cancel your ticket and get a refund? Was it a "cheap" ticket?
That is the worst solution a CS agent can offer!!!

As we do with many airlines, call back and keeping calling back till you get a CS agent who is knowledgable and sympathetic and is willing to work the extra steps to re-route you.