Kochi: Grievances of the NRIs from the Gulf countries dominated the first day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the 11th edition of which was inaugurated in Kochi on Monday.
Targeting the national carrier Air India and its budget arm Air India Express, the delegates said airlines are not only fleecing them, but also behave inhospitable towards them.
While foreign airlines stick to their schedule and ferry passengers on time, Air India and Air India Express miss their schedule by several hours, causing untold misery to passengers, delegates said.
“When the airlines land in unscheduled destinations for technical reasons, they do not provide alternative arrangements to take the passengers to their destinations,” said one delegate.
“This leads to clashes between passengers and crew as it happened in Thiruvananthapuram recently. Passengers cannot be blamed for taking extreme forms of protests in such instances.” Many delegates from north India, especially from Punjab, demanded more Air India Express services to the north Indian destinations.
07/01/13 Deccan Herald
