Resident Indians (NRIs) are increasingly demanding better services, lower fares and free baggage allowance for Zamzam water on the national carrier. “Many travelers, especially Umrah passengers, are facing problems while flying Air India,” they claimed while speaking to Saudi Gazette. “As much as we would like to fly our national carrier, we are facing increasing hurdles. Not only are Air India's fares to India significantly higher but the services – both on the ground and on air – leave much to be desired,” said Moazzam Ali Iftekhar, an Indian social activist and president of Telangana Gulf Employees' Forum. “We, as Gulf NRIs in particular, are disappointed because we are doing our bit to promote our country's economy by remitting most of our income to India and would like to support and fly our national carrier but Air India is just not living up to our expectations,” he added. Pravin Mistry, Air India's manager for the Western Region of Saudi Arabia, countered these allegations. “There is no increase in fares,” he told Saudi Gazette outright. “In fact,” he added, “our fares are very competitive in the market.” In response to the demand for free baggage allowance for Zamzam water, Mistry explained: “All passengers including returning Umrah passengers are allowed 40 kg baggage allowance including Zamzam.” He added, the reason why passengers are not being allowed to carry 10 liters of Zamzam free of charge any more is because Air India already gives a generous baggage allowance. “In terms of IATA regulations, baggage allowance of Economy Class passenger is 20 kg. As against this, Air India allows 40 kg for Economy Class; 50 kg for Business Class and 60 kg for First Class passengers, from Jeddah to India,” he explained. Since Air India's baggage allowance was much more than other airlines flying on the same route, Mistry said it is only fair that “passengers carry Zamzam water within this baggage allowance.” In addition, he said, Air India “allows 10 kg additional baggage allowance for Frequent Flyer Members. What's more, our excess baggage rate of SR30/kg is the lowest in the market”. Another complaint from irate Umrah passengers is lack of proper information and guidance. For instance, they say, they are not advised to report at Haj Terminal, and so they land up instead at the international terminal only to be turned away resulting in them missing their flight. In fact, activist Iftikhar said he knew cases where passengers were even forced to purchase fresh tickets for their return journey to avoid visa expiration. Mistry said that he was aware of this problem and had taken up the matter with the concerned authorities. “With regard to Umrah passengers, we have already issued a circular to all travel agents in Jeddah and the station managers in India to inform passengers, that effective May 1, 2011 the arrival and departure of Umrah passengers has been shifted to Haj Terminal by the airport authorities.” “In fact,” he informed, “We would also like to state that if any passenger misses the booked flight, he/she can use the same ticket for the next available flight after re-booking. As per our record, nobody has purchased any fresh ticket when holding a valid ticket”. Further, Mistry dismissed complaints from passengers like Mirza Qudrat, an IT manager in Jeddah, that Air India is plagued with frequent delays and flight cancellations without prior notice and said that Air India flights operate on schedule normally, “except where we were asked to operate the relief operations to Egypt, Libya and Tokyo to evacuate stranded Indians there.” “Passengers whose contact details are available in the PNR are informed about the delays or cancellations,” he added. Mistry further countered claims from the likes of Iftikhar that “almost all its handling staff at Jeddah airport comprises Pakistanis whereas Pakistan International Airlines' handling staff are only the Pakistani nationals.” “All airlines are handled by GHA (Ground Handling Agreement) staff whose employees belong to different nationalities,” said Mistry. Other accusations against Air India that were not raised with Mistry concerned some common problems faced with almost all airlines including discourteous staff, improper ground handling and frequent loss of baggage. Mirza Imtiaz Baig, corporate sales manager from Gujarat, complains that he lost his baggage several times while flying India's national carrier. “On one particular trip our baggage was found after three days,” he said. “But what's worse, was that I was not even guided properly on how to claim it.”
