Jet Airways-horrible service-HELP!!

mridula

Miracles do happen!

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Mridula

Travel Tales from India

machadinha

Sure. It's what professionals call I believe "on hold"

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Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

Nick-H

Great! Did they deliver it to your home? I hope so --- and I guess that they must have done as it was only a couple of hours since your last still-missing post.

Oyar

Hi, good to know you got your bag back.

Please keep us updated as to what compensation they offer you, because i was in a smilar situation recently.

I am a frequent flier with Jet Airways & last month I too happened to fly out of Chennai to Kuala Lampur. My bags did not arrive. Fortunately for me, they were sent to the airport the same evening at my final destination in another country.

However I did end up wasting a lot of money over this & would also like to be compensated.

Aishah

Coming back this afternoon and I see I cross-posted with you, Ariell. Oh, I am so happy that they are found! That is the best news of all.
Oyar - oh dear, another lost bag story from Jet Airways - I'm getting a bit nervous about my trip with them - there is a 3 hour wait in Singapore with a change to another plane - should I get bags checked out there and then re-check in?? Or should I check through all the way to Sydney? Usually with Thai Air I've done all the way through Delhi - Sydney and no problem, but Ariell's problems have got me thinking....

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

karuna

Well it sounds like the problem's at Chennai so as long as you avoid there....!

Anders

Check it through, I doubt that Jet is any worse in handling luggage than any other airline and I also doubt that they handle their luggage in Singapore, probably outsourced to another company. To minimise the risk, put a luggage tag with your name and address on the outside and inside of your bag and pack anything you hate to lose in the carry on.

Dilliwala

1. They are not.
2. ZIGACKLY. Too many people don't take this basic precaution. Makes it much easier for an airline to find your baggage if it's lost in transit without having to match up Contents Lists.

Nick-H

Should always put name and home address on big letters, along with flight numbers on a big piece of paper inside each case.

Let me third (or is it fourth) that one.

A baggage tag of your own with initial destination on one side and return (home) address on the other, with flight numbers and dates is a good idea too. Those airline baggage tags are very sticky, but nothings perfect.

Your own tag helps you to identify your bag on the carousel too.

Ariell

Thank you all so much for your good wishes!! I am thrilled to death to have my bag back. This afternoon, I enjoyed a cup of coffee in the mug given to me by my darling (which was in my bag) and I swear it tasted better than imaginable! It really is comforting to know that there are so many warm, understanding and knowledgeable people here on IM just a few keystrokes away. Thank you for helping me make it through the last week with my sanity intact. At least someone was listening to me! As a very inadequate thank you I'm posting a pic of me and my cherished, temporarily locationally-challenged bag taken a couple years ago. (I offered to send the pic to JA when they could not locate my bag. hahaha They didn't respond.)

Yesterday, I got tired of waiting for the Jet Airways people in Toronto to follow up with the offices in India, so I called the JA Chennai baggage office myself. Got thru to someone right away who was very helpful, said they had found my bag and even gave me the Air Canada flight that it was on en route from Toronto to London. When I asked why it was lost, he said the bag "was not tied to its last destination".


Got a call from Mr. Bigwig GM in Toronto around 5:30 to let me know the bag had been found and was on its way. But of course I already knew that. I said while I was thrilled to have my bag back, I was still completely dissatisfied with how this had been handled and that I would NEVER fly with Jet Airways again. His response? "I'm sorry to hear that and I hope you have a nice weekend". (!!) Nice apology. What a complete w*nker! Maybe he just figures that because I was backpacking it and obviously not loaded based on the contents of my bag that I was not worth his while. Well, I may not be rich but I do travel a fair bit. This is my 2nd trip to India this year and I'll be back again in May though obviously with a different airline next time.


I got a call from AirCanada letting me know the courier was on its way a few hours later. (No idea why Air Canada handled this. Codesharing??) And then by 9 pm. my bag was safely back home again. It had obviously been opened but everything was there. But high marks to JA for personally couriering the bag to me.


The thing I completely do not understand is how my bag could have been missing for 11 days. A day or so I can see but how did it take them a week and half to figure this out? What the heck was going on all that time?? In terms of identification it still had:

* the original, fully intact automated luggage tag clearly indicating my flight numbers and final destination as Toronto. The bar code number matched the one I had given them from day one.
* the Jet Airways luggage tag that I filled in with my full name and address and again listing my final destination as Toronto
* a large bright green Jet Airways tag with "INTERNATIONAL TRANSFER" put on in Delhi where they assured me my luggage would be checked through to Toronto. You'd think that someone in the Chennai domestic airport might have noticed that.
*AND I had sent a thorough description of the bag and all its contents on Monday so even if they somehow missed all the ID, the bag itself is fairly indentifiable as are the contents.



Karuna - thanks for the haiku. It was priceless.

As for an apology well, yes, they did apologize, but it was more of a cursory pat-on-the-head. ("Sorry, we're doing everything we can to locate your bag".) My complaints via email to the GM about the lack of response to my voicemails/emails, the wrong numbers I was given etc. were ignored.

When I spoke with the GM in the afternoon before the bag was found, he made it sound like I should be so grateful for the fact that he had 'actually gone over to the Air Canada baggage area' in person to see if my luggage was there. (Why would it be???) Well I should hope after 11 days of my bag being MIA that you are doing something more than just sending a frigging email! Good grief! Then as I said when I got the call that the bag was finally located there was no apology whatsoever for the delay.


Aishah - I wouldn't worry. I'm sure your luggage will make it ok! Though if people are de-planing in Singapore, I'd check the carousel just in case to make sure that your luggage isn't being offloaded there. Probably not necessary but it will save you the worry!


Oyar - they've offered zero compensation. As you were en route to your travel destination, it may be different, though given that you got your bag same day, I doubt they will offer anything. Couldn't hurt to send an email to the JA founder & chairman, Naresh Goyal though. That's what I plan to to do. PM if you want his email.


Anders - you're right, JA is probably no worse than other airlines in losing luggage. But I know this was not an isolated incident. When I filled in the form about my bag at the JA counter in Toronto, there were at least 3 others from the JA flight doing the same. For all I know there were more. I got there late because I kept checking all the carousels just in case.


But as Nick has pointed out, this was not so much about the fact that my bag got lost but about how JA handled it. Any airline can make mistakes, any company can mistakes, but I think what distinguishes a good company from a mediocre one is in how they treat their customers on a day to day basis AND how they deal with any problems that arise. I personally think that how a company handles its mistakes is actually more telling than what they do when everything runs smoothly.


Nick's suggestion of a possible apology a few postings back would have been hugely appreciated. I'm not that hard to please. But I would like to know, as I'm sure everyone would, that my problem is being acknowledged, that it is being dealt with in a timely and polite manner and that the company is sorry for any aggravation their mistake caused. I don't think that's so hard to do.


I stand by what I said earlier: JA's customer service is pathetic. And if the comments here are any indication, there are others that share my opinion: http://www.epinions.com/Jet_Airways/display_~reviews I find it interesting that the people who had no problems rightly gave JA high marks. But all the people who rated them low did so because of their poor customer service, ie. the Jet Airways cone of silence when problems arose.


Had Jet Airways dealt with my problem in a timely and polite manner (geez, even acknowledged the problem from the start) I'd be happy to just leave things with the return of my bag. But they didn't so I will still be filing a complaint against them with the Cnd. Transportation Agency for the delay and will be emailing the JA chairman with my concerns about their horrendous customer service.

Aishah

Thanks for letting us know full details of what happened - and good luck, Ariell with your complaint filing - would compensation be ensuing do you think? As I mentioned before this is a real alert for me, without your thread I would have blithely trusted in faith as usual!
Karuna - not going through Chennai!! Nick - great hints there - I use the Airlines tags for the destination address but must say I am too careless - would never have thought of the piece of paper with info. inside the bag etc. Excellent hints and I shall follow them meticulously!

Oyar

@Aishah

By the looks of things - the problem seems to be chennai. I dont think you need to be really worried. I fly a lot & fly only with Jet.

Ironically I chose to fly with jet on that particular trip simply because i was worried about my bags. I thought it to be worthwhile paying almost Rs. 15,000 extra! & also an additional transit in chennai. THis was because the contents in my bags were high in value & i did not want to risk flying Air India (my only other option on that sector)

Do use the tips that the others have given. Have fun

@Ariell

Its strange that the Jet staff were not apologetic & helpful. In my case they were extremely helpful. The airport manager of Jet in KL personally called me at regular intervals informing me of the status of my bags.

I think it is simply because the people you were dealing with ... were not actual Jet Airways employees. They were outsourced staff & care a damn if the airline's reputation is hurt or not.

Of all the airlines i have flown, I would still fly only with Jet, inspite of my recent personal experience & hearing about yours.

Aishah

Oyar - your post is kind of reassuring - I wouldn't fly Air India either, even if you paid me! The times I have used Jet Airways, first in late 90's between Coimbatore and Chennai, and then between Jodhpur and Delhi, I was always impressed with the quality of their service and the upkeep of their planes- pristine clean and nice food as well. But times change as they say..We will see how it is this time, and yes, I am doing all those things suggested - photos of contents, the labelling and adressing of everything both inside and outside the bags etc.
Very useful hints here.

Oyar

@Aishah

This week i go to Malaysia again. Though Jet is significantly more expensive than the rest (from Mumbai) I am still flying Jet.

Till date I have never bothered with name tags & such, but hence forth - will ensure that I do.

Rasika

I've been told that one problem with this, especially with address written prominently, is that it allows nasties to go and burgle the house as they know people are away. I don't know if this is urban myth (a friend of a friend told me!) but some burglars have moved into the house of a family they identified as having left for a holiday.

Maybe better to just put city of disembarcation and email address? Or an IM badge asking airline to report here?