We had booked a flight months ago on 10th May to fly to London on Indigo via Istanbul (which has a code share with Turkish Airlines). On 9th May , I decided to web check-in and it kept saying web check in not possible. Later in the day, we get a call saying flight will be delayed and we will miss the connection to London and there are no onward options from Istanbul for the next 10 days thereafter.
The airline generously offered to cancel our ticket and refund the whole amount. Nary a word about alternates nor any options given. We had no choice but to accept the cancellation as we needed to be in London on the weekend. I visited different websites and the flight was still scheduled as per their regular time. We logged in with our PNR number and it showed our flight was cancelled and there was a cancellation fee of 9,000 INR. We called the call centre who said the entire amount would be refunded with 24 to 48 hours. 48 Hours later there's no email or confirmation of the cancellation or refund. Indigo really takes it passengers for granted. It did not even have the courtesy to inform us via email before the flight or after the cancellation. Instead of suggesting alternate options, it gave us fait accompli to cancel the ticket. The next time I would rather pay a premium then fly Indigo. We also had to pay a significant premium to buy a ticket on Air India.
Next was our taxi booking on UBER. The driver kept missing the turn and then finally stopped 300 metres away and said he had arrived. Repeated calls for him to come forward remain unanswered. Moved to OLA and quickly got a cab. UBER offcourse charged me a cancellation fee which I paid since I may need to use the app outside India.
At Mumbai immigration, a young couple (possibly from the Middle East) crashed the queue. When reminded about the queue, they pretended as if they did not know English. At the immigration counter, however, the husband responded in English. I see this behaviour quite often. Breaking the queue and pretending that you cannot hear or understand.
On the Air India Dreamliner aircraft, which still has an antiquated remote control for the multimedia set, my system worked. My wife's system did not work and inspite of repeated requests the air hostess feigned ignorance on its operation.
London arrival and immigration was pretty smooth by comparison.
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