Jet passengers’ woes continue

For the second consecutive day, Jet Airways counters continued to remain deserted. But it was business as usual at the airport on Wednesday with passengers being accommodated on other flights. Soubhik Mitra reports.

For the second consecutive day, Jet Airways counters continued to remain deserted. But it was business as usual at the airport on Wednesday with passengers being accommodated on other flights.

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Terminal 1 A that handles only Kingfisher and Air India was choc-a-bloc with spillover passengers.

Airport officials said that all 84 departures and 70 arrivals of Jet Airways flights at Mumbai were cancelled.

Many business class travellers were upset because they had to travel in low cost carriers despite paying for a full fare ticket.

“I had to buy the meal on board even though I had paid for a full fare ticket,” said Ranjit Kulkarni, executive with a pharmaceutical company.

But the news could get worse, if the hold-off between pilots and the airline management continues. Your travel budget could jump, especially if you are travelling on busy sector like Mumbai-Delhi.

“Already tickets for tomorrow are out of stock. Prices could get steeper,” said Ajay Prakash, general secretary of the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

Travel agents have already begun shifting Jet travellers to other airlines till the end of this week.

“It is not clear when this dispute will get over. On an average every travel agent has shifted about 10 travellers to other airlines for the rest of the week,” said Anup Kanuga, chairman, (western region) Travel Agent Association of India. Around 200 travel agents are affiliated to the group.

However, international travellers who are waiting for connecting flights on Jet Airways have been severely inconvenienced.

“If I had known about this problem I would have taken a direct British Airways flight to Hyderabad, instead of opting for a connecting on Jet Airways,” said a traveller who was held up at Mumbai on his way to Hyderabad.