Have you ever had a free upgrade while travelling on a flight? Isn’t that just an amazing feeling? However, the opposite of it isn’t that appealing! Imagine booking a business class ticket for a long flight, only to find out that you have been downgraded while boarding. Not the most ideal scenario, is it? Sadly, that’s exactly what happened to an elderly lady flying with Air India recently. In a series of posts shared on X (formerly Twitter), it was revealed that the lady’s daughter had booked her a business-class flight from Delhi to Washington DC. However, Air India downgraded the woman’s seat to the Economy Class. What’s unfortunate is that it isn’t the first time people have experienced this with Air India. Many Netizens shared their personal experiences of similar last-minute seat changes with Air India.
Despite Business Class Ticket, Air India Downgrades Elderly Woman’s Seat
. @airindia how dare you give my mom’s business class seat to someone else on a long haul flight from Delhi to Washington DC? First telling her the seat doesn’t recline, then saying the seat is for the crew and then she finds someone else sitting there as she is sent to economy?
— 𝙑𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖 (@baavri) March 26, 2024
X (formerly Twitter) user, @baavri, booked a Business Class flight with Air India for her mother travelling from Delhi to Washington DC recently. However, the airline shifted her to economy class after boarding. As per the tweet, when asked about the downgrade, the elderly lady was first told that her “seat doesn’t recline”. She was then told that the seat was reserved for the crew member, only for her to find out that someone else was seated on her booked seat.
Dear Ma’am, please share your contact number via DM. Let us connect with you over the call.
— Air India (@airindia) March 27, 2024
The lady’s daughter took to X (formerly Twitter) to narrate the entire incident. She called out the airline’s “ridiculous behaviour” and asked them to “do better” for their customers. Air India responded to the post and reassured them that they would be “investigating the matter on priority” with the airport team.
Dear Ma’am, please be rest assured that we’re investigating the matter on priority with our airport team. We’ll connect with you soon.
— Air India (@airindia) March 27, 2024
@baavri, later updated that Air India has decided to “compensate 75% of the fare” and give an “upgrade voucher” to them. She called this compensation a “joke” and even mentioned how the ground staff in Delhi “was extremely rude and behaved in a disgusting manner” with her mother. She further mentioned that she would be filing a formal complaint against the airline for this incident.
Here is the update: they’ve compensated 75% of the fare + an upgrade voucher (what a joke). The ground staff at Delhi was extremely rude and behaved in a disgusting manner. My mother was listed in the flight manifest as a business class passenger, yet made to ride in economy. 1/4
— 𝙑𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖 (@baavri) March 27, 2024
We will be putting in a formal complaint and will sue, if need be. @airindia needs to understand that they can’t do whatever they please with paying customers.
— 𝙑𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖 (@baavri) March 27, 2024
Not The First For The Airline As Netizens Share Similar Experiences
Reacting to this post, many flyers with Air India revealed that this isn’t the first time that the airline has done this. Several people commented and shared their own experiences of a similar downgrade by Air India. Here are a few that you cannot miss.
Exact same thing happened to me on a ✈️ from DC to India. Was told my seat isn’t operational, doesn’t recline properly, and all my polite requests telling them I am up since 40 hrs without a wink and really need to sleep landed on deaf ears.
Luckily for me, had hung around at… pic.twitter.com/LWl2Llf4CO
— Akshay Chaturvedi (@Akshay001) March 27, 2024
After a lot of song and dance on email, they issued a business class voucher to me. Told them I didn’t need that (I don’t travel business all the time) but rather an assurance that this wouldn’t happen to anyone else and be investigated.
I never used the damn voucher.
And… pic.twitter.com/gM13FX49lb— Akshay Chaturvedi (@Akshay001) March 27, 2024
Similar incident with my cousin, travelling to New York to Delhi, had paid for extra leg room but was not given the seat as it was allocated to someone else. Upon complaining the airline said to take it up with travel company (makemytrip)
— Rajer Kunar (@RajerKunar) March 27, 2024
Atleast They got her a seat. Other day my famiky was denied seats saying flight is over booked & they have no seats left. They accommodated in a 12 hrs later flight. On Complaining with Consumer forum they replied saying passengers did not reach airport on time 😂
— Shanky Jain 🇮🇳 (@Realminorityy) March 28, 2024
Same thing happened to my friends parents.
— Seshank (@SeshankVemuri) March 27, 2024
Happened to my parents too!
— Manas Human (@manashuman) March 27, 2024
It happened to me last week with my 9 year old daughter.Sitting in delhi lounge with boarding pass,a person came to me and told that ur seat has been downgraded to economy. No explanation whatsoever. Fortunately was a 4 hour flight to Dubai. Will never trust them for long flights
— arun tikoo (@tikookarma) March 27, 2024
Same happened to me once. I had business class seat on AirIndia & they just upgraded a white man. They gave no explanations & without giving me back the difference in fares….put me in economy. This was at Frankfurt to Delhi.
— Me 🇮🇳 (@lotusprings) March 27, 2024
Exactly same thing happened with us. Booked higher class seats but at the time of check-in it was downgraded to economy. No refund nothing. This is a definitely a new strategy deployed by Air India.
— Adi (@Adi44894015) March 27, 2024
And same thing happened for domestic travel as well… My mum has knee issues so i booked 1A seat after paying extra for it… And they moved it to 5 C saying some Army personnel was given that seat… Doesn’t make sense… Didn’t even get a refund
— Aamir Raja (@writeraamirraja) March 27, 2024
Same thing happened with my son in November last year. SFO to Bengaluru Air India flight. He even took a picture of the lady sitting on his seat which was said to be broken. He was given a business class seat which had to be manually reclined. Looks like airline is a cheat.
— Suneets (@Suneets3) March 27, 2024
Same thing had happened with me last time in paid seat. I challenged the crew and asked to give in writing regarding change of my seat due to damaged seat. They immediately provided me a better seat
— SanjaydrDash (@SanjaydrDash) March 27, 2024
The same incident happened to my mother from IAD to Delhi, that was booked for business class recently. They said the same thing that the seat has a problem and cannot be reclined hence an economy seat will be allocated. Fortunately we got the seat after long argument.
— rags (@raghua25) March 27, 2024
There was also a lot of outrage against Air India online because of this incident. Many people also asked @baavri to file a complaint against the airline.
Ridiculous. I can imagine the discomfort the old lady would have gone through in the long journey inspite of having a confirmed booking in Business class.. This was never expected from an airline operated under the brand name TATA. @TataCompanies
— Tanny (@west_avia) March 27, 2024
Unbelievable. This is terrible @airindia .
— Mukul Kumar (@mukulneetika) March 27, 2024
So they give the seat to another person, and do not do partial refunds either? What mockery.
— nandita (@i_nandita) March 27, 2024
How can they? Aren’t crew seats already designated? The seat shouldn’t have been for sale at all in the first place if that was the case
— Archana Sikand (@ArchanaSikand) March 26, 2024
Terrible. Wish she had refused to fly. They better refund the entire fare for the mishap.
— Varun Krishnan (@varunkrish) March 27, 2024
File a case. You’ll sure win the case. And also be compensated.
— HappySoul (@ValiMorg) March 27, 2024
The entire situation definitely raises many questions about the airline’s management and ground staff. What’s your opinion on this entire row? Let us know in the comments!
Cover Image Courtesy: X/airindia & X/@baavri
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First Published: March 28, 2024 2:17 PM