Where there is a will.....

On board IC 505 from Bangalore to Delhi

6^th July, 2010

Opposition parties called Bharat Bandh on 5^th July, 2010 in protest against the general price rise and decontrol of petroleum products in particular.

We had a scheduled programme of meeting in Bangalore on same day with a leading developer and all business heads. It was decided to keep meeting post afternoon when Bandh will be at its dying stage. With persistent request all agreed and meeting was held as planned.

On 4^th July, 2010, it was raining in Chandigarh and Jet Airways flight was delayed by about 1.30 hours. Therefore, it was almost certain that I would not be getting connecting flight of Spice Jet from Delhi which was scheduled to fly at 17 hours. I though of canceling the ticket of Spice Jet and get a new ticket for Bangalore. I went to ticket counter and requested Ms Lovlin, a steward of Jet Airways to help me out in view of the delay in incoming flight. She offered me a chair and assured that she would try to render all possible help so that I need not cancel the ticket so that I can save both money and time. She made all permutations and combination to see the cheapest Flight available from Delhi (from any airline) and at the same time she used her persuasive power to get me a seat in Air India flight to Delhi which was slightly delayed by that time. I was very much impressed with her sense of duty and on remarks that if a passenger lose money, she feels as it was going from her own pocket. Therefore she leave no stone unturned to help any passenger.

But as the luck would have it, after boarding the aircraft the this flight was also delayed and I landed in Delhi at 4.45 pm and rushed straight to the check in counter of Spice Jet. But the cute looking, bi spectacled, young girl refused to issue me boarding pass and also expressed inability to refund the ticket as their rules permit cancellation of ticket only two hours before the departure time. So it was a case of loss of Rs. 7500.00 for no fault of mine. I took a deep breath, maintained my cool and went out and first purchased a new ticket from Jet Lite with the request to the staff to issue me at ticket with the cheapest fare available. She obliged me issued a ticket worth Rs. 7350.00. Surprisingly a few minutes ago the ticket to my colleague was issued at Rs. 13,000.00 for the same Flight. A great saving indeed.

Now I went to the duty manager of Jet Airway, a beautiful lady in mini skirt, glowing face, chubby cheeks and bob cut hair. I narrated my tale and requested her to help me out with a refund of ticket. But she refused to oblige. On this I became firm and asked her that I would be the last person to be taken for granted and not going to suffer this loss. Seeing my aggressive posture, she became more polite and said that it was not in her hand to get me refund, but surely I can write to customer service of Jet airways for refund or she can make an attempt with Spice Jet to get me refund. I said, “Mam ..Whatever you want to do…do it right now….I am concerned only for refund of my ticket..” She accompanied me to the same desk manager of Spice Jet and requested her to do the needful. This young girl looked deep into my eyes and understood my seriousness on this. She tried one or two telephone calls to her seniors and got permission for refund of ticket.

I thanked both of them and boarded my next flight.

In normal course we give up and do not care specially if it is a official trip, but if we make a little effort, things happen the way we want. That is my conviction. These two may be small incidents (Meeting and refund)…but that is how positive waves help us.