On December 17, a Bengaluru-based family accused Air India of not allowing their pet to board a flight despite having clearance.
A Twitter user named Sachin Shenoy posted the video on his Twitter account and said that the airlines pilot did not allow the pet dog inside the plane despite having a boarding pass.
Shenoy and his family were going on a 12-day vacation to Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. He was about to board AI 503.
in video messagehe said, “We were expected to board Air India flight AI 503 at 17.10 to Delhi and then to Amritsar. We were supposed to cover Amritsar, Dharamshala and Dalhousie on our 12-day trip. We booked this ticket about 3 months ago We are in constant touch with Air India officials regarding the process for traveling with pets.”
Shenoy said, “Our pet weighs 4.2 kg and weighs hardly five kg with the bag. As per the rules, she can fly inside the cabin. She passed all checks and was issued a boarding pass.”
“The pilot, Captain Chopra refused us entry or so we were told.”
He added, “We were told that you can leave your pet and fly…it’s like leaving your child and flying.”
“Is this what traveling in India is all about? Is this what modern India is?” He said he had paid for hotels and transfers for his 12-day journey. He said the situation was pathetic as despite following all the rules and regulations, he was denied entry Went.
Responding to Shenoy’s query on Twitter, the airline said, “Dear Sir, We are sorry for the inconvenience caused. We never intend to cause any kind of inconvenience to our passengers. Kindly share your booking details and pet EMD details via DM so that we can highlight it to our respective airport team to look into it on priority basis.”
Following which, Shenoy posted a letter which showed that he was denied entry as the pilot-in-command did not allow him to travel with a pet in the cabin.
A Twitter conversation ensued between the airline and Shenoy.
“However, the flight commander was not fully satisfied with the cage and mouth of the pet, so he could not allow it to be taken into the cabin,” the airline said.
On this, Shenoy said that this is an outright lie. He wrote, “The commander never saw the pet or the cage, he refused to speak or come and see the pet or the cage. This is an outright lie.”
The airline further added, “Our stipulated policy for the carriage of pets on domestic flights clearly states that” the carriage of pets is subject to the approval of the flight commander.
As a goodwill gesture, the airline revalidated the tickets for the full journey the next day.
“However, as a goodwill gesture, we are offering you revalidation of your tickets for the entire journey tomorrow. Please accept our humble offer as we would love Fluffy to fly with us.”
“While I appreciate your gesture, I require the above assurance and also clear details of the itinerary in the next 30 minutes to see if we can still travel based on your options… If it is not useless. Looking forward to your response,” replied Shenoy.
On December 18, Shenoy further tweeted in the thread and said that he received a call from Air India Bengaluru but was not given any assurance on his pet’s travel. “Just got a call from AirIndian blurb, Poovan. He said he could not give any assurances on pet travel, and again that would be decided by the pilot. Looks like the hypocrisy continues…”
Shenoy also went and filed a petition on this incident. The petition has got the support of 328 people.
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