The idea of a budget airline sounded suspicious when I first saw the advertisement online. I kept looking for the "conditions apply" button. When I didn't find one, I decided to book my tickets online. I must have spent about 45 minutes trying to book the tickets. I probably should have realised then the issues that arise when travelling by a budget airline. Nevertheless I got my tickets with my seating of choice and was happy with my cheap tickets.
When the travel date arrived, I was expecting the airport counter to be busy. So we made sure we arrived three hours before departure. To my surprise the counter was empty and I thought it would be smooth sailing from there on, but I was wrong.
Delayed
The flight was delayed for 30 minutes but the real nightmare began when we landed in Delhi and found one of our bags missing. I filed a report for the missing bag and was told that someone had forgotten to pick up their bag and perhaps the passenger may have picked up mine by mistake. I wondered how someone could mistakenly take someone else's bag. It's common sense to check your luggage properly.
The ground staff told me to take the bag with me in order to exchange it, if the other person comes back. But it occurred to me that it might contain illegal items and I shouldn't have to suffer because of someone else's foolishness. So I refused to take it.
It was then suggested that the bag remains in the airline offices. I requested staff to open the bag, in order to identify to whom it may belong. They found a CV but refused to try and find the person in question.
So I took the address from them to try and find him. I ended up wasting a whole day searching for this anonymous man. I finally managed to find him and my anger gave way to a sense of relief.
Return journey
On the return journey, we had excess weight and I tried to convince the official to allow us the extra weight as compensation for what had happened but he refused. Finally we boarded the aircraft it was cold and there were no blankets they announced the flight would be delayed for an hour and we were expected to sit there.
When we landed in Dubai, we sighed in relief. I have made up my mind — no more budget airlines. They may be budget friendly but they are far from customer friendly!
— The writer is a Gulf News reader.
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