An Indian student studying in the USA found herself in a difficult situation after her luggage went missing on an Air India flight. Pooja Kathail, a PhD student in Computational Biology at UC Berkeley, was traveling from San Francisco to Bengaluru for a wedding when her suitcase did not make it onto the plane.
Kathail, who needed her belongings urgently for the wedding the following day, encountered significant difficulties in contacting Air India's customer service. Her ordeal underscores ongoing concerns about the reliability of baggage handling and customer service within the airline industry.
Taking to social media platform X, Kathail shared her frustration, revealing the mishap and the challenges she faced in getting a response. "Took a direct flight San Francisco -> Bengaluru yesterday and Air India never loaded my suitcase on the plane. It’s been 36 hours, and still no delivery estimate. And it took ~40 tries to get them to even pick up the phone. Going to a wedding tomorrow and don’t have any clothes,” she tweeted.
Air India eventually responded with an apology and requested further details to expedite the resolution. "Dear Ms. Kathail, we truly sorry for the delay and regret the inconvenience caused. Please DM us your PNR, PIR copy and bag tag for us to check with our airport/baggage team and get back to you with an update," the airline tweeted.
Kathail's tweet quickly gained traction, with numerous social media users sharing similar experiences. One user commented, "Going in Air India is a waste of time and money. Customer service is poor, the planes are quite old. Better to avoid for the next 3 to 4 years until the Tatas clean up the mess.” Another added, “This seems to be an everyday thing now. Family members flew SFO - BLR last week, same story. Bags came after days after many continuous follow up. People book AI due to direct flight but now it’s becoming a nuisance that is not worth the advantage of direct flight."
The incident highlights ongoing issues with Air India's operations, with multiple users noting repeated occurrences of similar problems. One user shared, “AI-176 on July 1st and 2nd also had missed bags. They delivered bags after 72 hours. I’m surprised July 5th also facing the same issue.”
As complaints continue to mount, the airline faces increasing pressure to address these operational deficiencies and improve customer satisfaction.