Saturday, 25 January 2025
Saturday, 25 January 2025
Popular podcaster Prakhar Gupta, known for his show Prakhar Ke Pravachan, took to X to express his frustration over IndiGo airline’s handling of a rescheduled flight.
In a series of posts, Gupta accused the airline of rescheduling his flight without adequate notice, and cited unprofessional conduct by its staff. The podcaster’s post even started a chain reaction among Indigo travellers, leading journalist Ravish Kumar to jump into the bandwagon.
Prakhar claimed the airline advanced his flight by 15 minutes, notifying him only 2.5 hours before the new departure time.
"How do you change a flight time and PREPONE it, 2.5 hours before the flight at 4 AM in the morning, expect me to make it on time, and then when I do get there 5 minutes behind the new time, you do not let me check in my bag and make me pay for a new flight?" he wrote.
The podcaster further alleged that no email was sent to inform him of the schedule change, and the text message alone was insufficient.
"I got no email, and one measly text at 4 AM this morning that my flight time has been preponed from 6:45 to 6:30, and you close your check-in counters according to 6:30?"
Adding to his grievances, Gupta said the airline staff were unhelpful and rude. He accused them of making him shuttle between counters and claimed that one employee accused him of filming at the airport.
"Your staff was rude to me and my co-passenger, accusing us of filming when we were not filming, because I politely asked them the same question — how could they change flight time two hours before a flight and charge me extra?"
Gupta also slammed the unprofessional behavior of the staff, alleging that they played "very distasteful private voice messages to each other on speakerphone and giggled at the obscenity while 'resolving' our issue."
Calling the airline’s actions a violation of basic customer service norms, Gupta said, "Flight providers cannot whimsically play with people’s time and lives without us being compensated, and more so without making us pay more for their errors. This is a violation of any reasonable terms of service."
The post gained traction, amassing over 3 million views. IndiGo responded to Gupta on X, stating, "We are currently looking into this and will reach out to you soon to resolve the matter."
Prakhar hit back, alleging that the airline offered him Rs. 6,000 as compensation in exchange for deleting his post. "No apology, either written or verbal, was issued. However, safe to say that social media pressure does work. Apparently, IndiGo HQ is now involved, but no help has been offered," he claimed.
He invited IndiGo's CEO to his studio, offering to fly him first-class to demonstrate, "the unwavering Indian tolerance we are famous for."
While many users on X rallied behind the entrepreneur, sharing their own experiences of inconvenience with the airlines, others trolled him for his complaints.
A user replied that to be on time at an airport means to arrive two hours before boarding time.
Another user suggested to the podcaster that he should do a uno reverse by rescheduling an episode with the airlines' CEO.
One user questioned the customer-centric policy of the airline and the trustability of the aviation industry and its norms.
Another user questioned Indigo’s monopoly in the aviation industry.
The complaints against Indigo airlines kept on flowing, with no near end in sight.
The podcaster later started a thread #indigohorrorstory, asking users to share similar experiences with the airline.
Indigo and SpiceJet are equal when it comes to poor flight operations, said one user.
Another user shared how Indigo mishandled passengers' luggage.
No tipping please says the t-shirt, but an Indigo employee apparently asked for 200 for “free” wheelchair services.
Inconvenience or strategy, only IndiGo can answer.
As criticism mounted over IndiGo's handling of the issue, the airline issued a press statement.
IndiGo attributed the schedule changes to enhanced security measures ahead of Republic Day and claimed that all passengers were informed in advance.
“We promptly communicated these schedule adjustments to passengers upon implementation. Our teams made every effort to assist passengers arriving after the revised timings. In one instance, a passenger who arrived beyond the original flight time was extended the option of an alternative flight with minimal charges as a gesture of goodwill,” the airline said, referring to Gupta’s case.
Gupta’s experience has drawn parallels to a similar incident involving journalist Ravish Kumar.
Kumar revealed that he had booked an Indigo flight which got canceled, forcing him to cancel a returning Air India flight. The cancellation cost him a loss of ₹7,000. He said, "There’s no count of how many people are facing such inconveniences."
