An elderly couple experienced significant travel disruption when Air India reportedly changed their tickets and destinations without prior notification, as shared by a user on X.
Dushyant Arora detailed the ordeal of his partner’s parents, who discovered the changes only when they attempted to check-in.
“My partner’s elderly parents, both cardiac patients, were scheduled to fly to Newark via Air India. When they tried to check in last night, they found out – Air India unilaterally changed their tickets,” Arora posted on X.
He outlined the issues:
- The mother was booked on one flight and the father on another.
- The flights were set to depart on different days.
- The mother was rerouted to Newark while the father was to New York.
The couple only discovered these changes at check-in, causing significant distress. “This was my mother’s first time flying abroad. She doesn’t want to fly alone,” Arora added.
Air India responded to the post, stating they had processed a full refund as the customer requested. “Dear Sir, please be assured that we never intend to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and regret that this situation occurred. We have just spoken with the primary customer booked in the PNR and have processed a full refund as requested,” the airline stated.
Arora expressed frustration at the airline’s response, suggesting the apology came only after the issue was made public. “Full refund—why? Did you earn a hefty differential selling those tickets at a premium price? What about their anguish and the differential they will have to pay now if they want to fly? You should be putting them on another flight—same flight, same and correct destination, same day—since that needs to be spelled out,” he added.