indian....

apologies for digging up an old thread....i had posted this in another thread but then realised that posting it in the flying returns thread would be more appropriate....

had a typically bad experience with ai when cancelling an award booking....

i had booked 2 business class del-lhr tickets but had to cancel one of them....now its important to point out that while booking the ticket, the t&c clearly state that if i cancel the ticket 3 days prior to the flight then 10% miles will be deducted as a penalty & the remainder will be credited to my account....here is a screenshot i took:


called ai to cancel the ticket since the website wouldn't allow me to do so....the agent confirmed that 10% miles will be deducted & the balance would be credited immediately....i told the agent to go ahead & do so....the ticket was cancelled but only 80% miles were refunded....i questioned the agent on this & he said he was not sure what happened & put me on hold to investigate....after a brief hold he comes back on the phone to state that the penalty is not 10% but rather 20%....i ask him why he gave me incorrect information before canceling the ticket & why the t&c state that it is 10%....he had no answer to that & kept repeating that its an automated process & the penalty is 20%....so i ask him to connect me to a supervisor....

the supervisor comes on & i tell her what happened....she gets extremely aggressive & starts blaming the situation on me....she says its my responsibility to know what the cancellation policy is when booking the ticket & that the agent told me nothing wrong....i told her that i knew what the t&c said & the agent gave me the same information as the t&c....however, both turned out to be incorrect as double the amount was deducted as the penalty....she says the t&c clearly state that the penalty is 20% & i probably asked the agent wrong information like making a date change which attracts 10% penalty in inr....

she refuses to accept the fact that the t&c say 10% so i tell her to book another ticket for me while i'm on the phone....we go through the process & when we get to the page that has the t&c i ask her to read out what is written....she pauses for a bit & i can hear her colleague stating in the background 'he is right, this does say 10%'....she still decided to hold her ground & says that her screen is showing that its 20%....

at this point i lose my cool & tell her that what she seems to have forgotten is that all these calls are being recorded & that she probably doesn't know but ai has a vigilance team that works with the police to identify fraud....i told her i was going to send a notice to the vigilance team to listen in on this phone call & that she was trying to cheat me out of 10% of the miles....after hearing this, her tone completely changed....for the first time she apologised on behalf of the earlier agent for giving the wrong information & she said she could connect me with a supervisor if i wanted to escalate this further....i questioned her on the fact whether she was a supervisor as she had claimed earlier, once again reminding her that this call will be heard by the vigilance officer....she sheepishly admitted that she was a senior call agent but not a supervisor....

i didn't want to deal with her any further so asked her to connect me to a real supervisor....she apologises a number of times & asks me not to send the notice to the vigilance officer....i tell her to just connect me to a supervisor so she put me on hold for a minute & then came back saying no supervisor was available & she would arrange a call back....i told her i would hold till a supervisor became available but she kept stating that no one was there & it would take a while to connect me to one....she promised a call back when one was available but of course no one has called back & i don't expect anyone will....

its not at all surprising since this is air india....customer service has never been their strong point....

I hope they get sold soon, have moved out of the program completely just because of their handling of such situations. Have a family trip with miles to lhr and mle all booked for this year. I hope these trips goes uninterrupted else my miles were expiring and even if it would be AI fault they would not accept it.

As government servants, the only way they can be thrown out of their jobs is through activities involving Fraud and invoking vigilance related audits! Simply unbelievable, the length they can go to inconvenience travellers! Maybe a mail to the officers in charge may really help. With Govt of India, everything will be documented! Customer care will think twice before trying to rip someone off. The link with names and email id's is Air India : Vigilance

I am not at all surprised by this. AI is staffed majorly by disgraceful vile people. The worst part is we are paying their salaries. This woman has no place in a civil society. The reason they continue to behave this way is that no one ever faces any consequences, I think you should go through with notifying the vigilance department.

i actually know one of the regional vigilance heads....i have already spoken with him & emailed all the details the day after this happened....i definitely want them to hear the call....

I understand the frustration of dealing with AI with regards to their FF program. But compared to US carriers (except Southwest) their policy is quite fair. Even losing 20% of the miles to a cancelled ticket is preferable to paying $150 to $300 per ticket on the US carriers to transfer the miles back to your account. In many cases it is not worth it.

The 20% isn’t “fair” by any account given the atrocious number of miles AI charges for any flight. But I think they’re trying to deter people from blocking seats and then canceling at the last minute.

Of course, US airlines isn’t the yardstick to compare customer friendly policies against.

i don't think there is anything fair if the t&c state 10% but they charge 20% later....

also, as far as us carriers are concerned, they waive the fee for top tier elite members....no such policy here with ai....

I have a bunch of expiring FR miles, expiring end of the month. Can I use them to book flights now for travel in May or does the travel have to be before the miles expire?

Travel can be after the expiry of the miles. But bear in mind, in-case you cancel or even want to change your plans after Mar you stand to lose the miles.

AI FR also frequently have promos to extend miles for a lower price - check for those e-mails...

That �promo� runs through the year going by the current festival/occasion at that time. But it�s really bad value - and I would generally avoid doing that.

Thanks, folks.

The promos for reviving expired miles are at 40p per mile. I find that a poor value.

while all air india international frequent flyer bookings have been suspended since march, until last week we had the option to book tickets on star alliance carriers using flying returns miles....over the last couple of months i made one reservation on ua for november 2020 & another on sn for january 2021....but as of this weekend i have been getting an error message when i try to search for tickets using the miles option....this is the error i get:

i've tried using my account, my wife's account & my father's account....each time i can log into the account but when trying to book a ticket using miles i get the same error....has anyone else come across this????