An Air India horror story.

After what has possibly been the most eventful and enjoyable holiday of my life, I`m back in the U.K again. It`s bad enough leaving your loved ones and heading back to a foreign country, but my send off was to be far worse!
The day before departure, I was called up by Air India and told that my flight from Mumbai to London had been changed from AI133 to AI131. I was only too happy as i got a few extra hours to spend at home. Anyhow my journey from home started 4:00 AM on the 4th morning.
On checking in I was told that my flight from Cochin to Mumbai had be changed and that I was to head over there on an Indian airlines flight instead. I guess that was just a sign of the trend that was to follow.
AI 131 was scheduled to take off from Mumbai at 1:00PM on the 4th, but on reaching mumbai I was told it was delayed by an hour. I would have been surprised if it hadnt - Air india being what it is!
Thus, expecting to board at 2.00 PM we waited at the lounge. However 2`O clock streched to 3 and there still was not even an announcement. At 3:30 however an official came over to express his regret that the public address was not working! furthermore boarding would happen only at 4:30 as some component of the plane had to be replaced!
When 4:30 streched into 5:00 and the passengers began to vent their frustration, we were made to assemble at the gates. 15 mins later we were redirected to another gate! and then one person at a time was allowed to board! The passports (which had already passed through emigration and security) of each passenger was screened once again as if we were criminals!! It seemed to be a blatant effort by Air India to play for time.
Finally, around 5:30 we were told that the plane was about to take off. We let out a collective cheer when finally the plane did start to taxi. However that turned out to be very much premature! Just as it almost lifted off, the take off was aborted! It was then announced after 5 minutes of suspense, that one of the plane`s engines had a level of vibration that was above permissible levels and thus had to be checked out by engineers, thus we would have to disembark and wait until then! I had only heard of such things happening to other unlucky people, but now I was living it out!
After making us wait in the plane for another 30-40 mins we were finally taken back to the terminal where we were told that we just had to wait till something concrete was known about the plane`s fate. People protested, a woman fainted...all to no avail..Air india officials continued to do what they do best - spread chaos!
We were now asked to go to the airport restaurant and have dinner. However, the restaurant refused to serve the 200 passengers as they had not recived any official communication from Air India! We sat around for another hour or so, while a few helpful passengers sought out the Airline officials and negotiated! Finally dinner was served and it was announced that the flight would not take off for the day but that it would be ready for departure the next day at 8:00 AM. Thus we were to be put up at a hotel overnight, but only after they impounded our passports, besides, our checked in luggage would not be returned to us!!
Having little energy left to argue , we accepted our fate and sat through more formalities and blunders by the airline officials before finally making it into our rooms at what was surprisingly an excellent 5 start hotel (The Orchid). We were allowed a free 3 minute telephone call (as if in jail) and were told that we would be notified of any change in departure time.
Meanwhile I came down with a full fledged fever and barely managed to drag myself into the inviting bed so that I could rise at 5:30 and be at the lobby to be picked up for the airport by 6:00.
However, when I dragged myself down at 6:00, the next morning, we were told that there was a delay and that the flight would`nt take off till 11:00 thus pick up would have to wait another 2 hours! I would say that most of the passengers had murderous intentions on their mind by this point! Some wise passenger called up Air India posing to be from the British High Commision and was able to get assurances from them that the flight would indeed happen at 11:00. Others were satiated by reading about their fate in the day`s newspaper....Me, I was shivering with a fever and was just relieved to be able to sleep a few more hours.

Finally pick up did happen - at almost 9:00 and we did manage to get on the plane. Every positive sign towards the flight happening was cheered on by the passengers. The captain`s arrival, the arrival of the crew, the opening of gates etc, but to me I could`nt differentiate the boos from the cheers. We finally did take off at around 11:45 AM .


10 uneventful hours later, we landed in London, Heathrow, almost a day later than we were to have reached. Most of us were just relieved to have survived the ordeal with our sanity intact. It took me another 3 hours and two bus rides before I arrived at my house in Bristol. I hope that thats the first and the last time I have to put myself through such an experience. One word of advise- for myself and others - Avoid travelling Air India if possible! The extra money spent on other airlines is perhaps worth it!

I`m back at work on Monday morning. I wish I was somewhere else and I miss what I`ve left behind at home, but I guess life has to go on and we just have to adapt. I hope to get back into my stride soon enough. I wish all of you a very happy new year.