A word must be said on just how frustrating travel by air can be these days. Of what use are low-cost airlines, if they make you wish you had taken the Rajdhani instead? Recently, on a short trip to Bombay, my GoAir flight was delayed for more than four hours. I wasn’t, of course, surprised that the airline did not bother to inform us of this prior to our arrival at their airport counter, but I found that a number of passengers had been waiting since early in the day - because their morning GoAir flight had been cancelled and they had been put instead on the evening one. Meagre refreshments were served around 7:30 pm, and a short while later, the flight was announced to be further delayed to sometime after 11 pm that evening (I use the word ‘sometime’ particularly because this airline only seems to believe in using vague terms).

At this announcement, my co-passengers and I marched up to the GoAir duty manager and inquired how, if we were going to land only after 1:30 am, were we expected to travel within Bombay at the unearthly hour? Granted, Bombay is considered a safe city at any hour, even for women, but that was besides the point. We didn’t know our way around the city. Would we be provided transport? And would dinner be arranged for all the passengers? NO, was the big fat reply from the staff, and we were offered completely unhelpful alternatives like a morning flight the next day or a full refund for the ticket. “Ma’am, on a personal level, I agree this treatment is unfair, but on a professional level, I cannot do anything about it,” was the reply from the GoAir duty manager.

A few minutes into this discussion, a few murmurings of protest from the other passengers later, the four of us who were travelling together decided to take this up with the airport authority because clearly, the GoAir staff were washing their hands off the matter.

The idea behind making this fuss obviously went beyond the question of dinner or the cost of one. It was quite evident that neither was the airline concerned that they were at fault, nor were they willing to take any measures to make up for it. Their nonchalance was incredulous. DIAL regulations clearly state that any flight delayed at a mealtime must provide all passengers with a full meal.

The airport authority on duty was, thankfully, extremely helpful and sought the GoAir airport manager for an explanation. When, by way of mention, the airline were told that we - the ones who had spoken up and complained - were journalists - they grudgingly relented just a slight bit - and offered us dinner - ”but only for the four of you.” While 150 other passengers, including a number of children tired of waiting, sat out endlessly without a proper meal or an inkling of when they would actually reach their destination - we were shocked that the airline had the gall to suggest something so outrageous. “Dinner for everyone” was bluntly refused, it’s “just not possible, sorry”. We scoffed at their offer, and told them there was no question of being selective in an issue like this.

Meanwhile, the other journalists travelling with me immediately got on the phone and made a few quick calls which resulted in something good - we were promised by the GoAir Corp Comm head, that dinner would indeed, be arranged for everyone, and transport for the women. But despite an SMS intimation from this lady, we had to check with the staff every few minutes to see what exactly was keeping them from following an order.

We walked around stopping passengers and informing them of the service they could now avail of, because many of them were walking away towards security check without knowing of this change. An almost coerced announcement was sheepishly made a little while later. No wonder their flights nearly never get off the ground. By the time we were airbound, it was midnight. Incidentally, this isn’t an isolated case, for in the past few days I have happened to hear of several complaints against the same airline.

Hey, Mr Wadia, IPL is long over, what’s your excuse now? Perhaps learning from competition would help - Indigo, for one, has never failed to impress in the low-cost sector. In manner of further conciliation, GoAir later sent me a voucher for a discount on a ticket, which I declined with few choice words. I wonder how clever they think it is to be selectively conciliatory.