Woman Says Air India Gave Her Mother's Business Class Seat On Delhi-Washington Flight To Someone Else

A social media user has slammed Tata Group-owned Air India for lying to her mother and forcing her to travel in the economy class when she had booked a business class seat.

According to the social media user identified as Vitasta, the airline first told her mother that her seat didn¡¯t recline and then changed the narrative to saying that the seat was for the crew.

REUTERS/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

What AIr India told business class passenger

But according to Vitasta, when her mother boarded the flight from Delhi to Washington DC, she found someone else sitting on the seat that was originally allotted to her.

"Air India how dare you give my mom¡¯s business class seat to someone else on a long haul flight from Delhi to Washington DC? First telling her the seat doesn¡¯t recline, then saying the seat is for the crew and then she finds someone else sitting there as she is sent to economy," she wrote on X.

. @airindia how dare you give my mom¡¯s business class seat to someone else on a long haul flight from Delhi to Washington DC? First telling her the seat doesn¡¯t recline, then saying the seat is for the crew and then she finds someone else sitting there as she is sent to economy?

¡ª ??????? (@baavri) March 26, 2024

"Absolutely ridiculous behavior and no regard for your customers! We will be complaining about this. Air India, do better," she said in another post.

Others too had similar experience

The post soon went viral and others also shared similar experiences they had faced on the same Air India flight.

"Exact same thing happened to me on a from DC to India. Was told my seat isn¡¯t operational, doesn¡¯t recline properly, and all my polite requests telling them I am up since 40 hrs without a wink and really need to sleep landed on deaf ears. Luckily for me, had hung around at the counter long enough to see they give a seat to someone else who came after. And the hunch proved to be right, had another lady sitting on my seat when I entered the plane," another person wrote.

Exact same thing happened to me on a ?? from DC to India. Was told my seat isn¡¯t operational, doesn¡¯t recline properly, and all my polite requests telling them I am up since 40 hrs without a wink and really need to sleep landed on deaf ears.

Luckily for me, had hung around at¡­ pic.twitter.com/LWl2Llf4CO

¡ª Akshay Chaturvedi (@Akshay001) March 27, 2024

Faulty seats a recurring problem on Air India

Air India really needs to stop the DC-Delhi route till it puts functional planes on it. This happens repeatedly cuz of faulty seats ¡ª 6 of 18 biz seats wouldn't recline on a flight I took ¡ª but they still sell all of them," another social media user said.

What Air India said

After her post went viral, Vitasta posted an update saying that Air India has compensated 75% of the fare and an upgrade voucher.

"Here is the update: they¡¯ve compensated 75% of the fare + an upgrade voucher (what a joke). The ground staff at Delhi was extremely rude and behaved in a disgusting manner. My mother was listed in the flight manifest as a business class passenger, yet made to ride in economy," she wrote.

Here is the update: they¡¯ve compensated 75% of the fare + an upgrade voucher (what a joke). The ground staff at Delhi was extremely rude and behaved in a disgusting manner. My mother was listed in the flight manifest as a business class passenger, yet made to ride in economy. 1/4

¡ª ??????? (@baavri) March 27, 2024

The woman further said that she would be putting in a formal complaint and would sue the airline.

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