Folks, Here is some positive news! Jet Airways reverted back to me earlier today. Based on the tone of the message it appears they are willing to look into the matter about my experience with them and help resolve it. I shall keep you updated on the outcome. There have been several posts on this thread and I greatly appreciate fellow Goans sharing titbits about their personal experience on this forum. My original post had nothing to do with - whether I was right or wrong on pounding Jet Airways as Jose Colaco is harping about. It was about how flexible a company is willing to be on their rules, in order to keep their customers happy. It is no secret in the West that companies - large and small are willing to go great distance in order to maintain excellent relations with their customers. In fact, I gave two recent examples in my post where in both instances I made genuine mistakes. But when I communicated back with them giving my fair reasons, they were generous enough to write off my charges. My argument with Jet Airways was similar in nature: Previously, whenever I travelled with them on "Dollar Fare" I never had to pay for excess baggage (the difference between baggage allowance between international leg and the domestic leg in India). Their argument was that I was travelling on two different PNRs and my response was that I wasn't aware of the difference. As far as I was concerned, I paid for the fare in US dollars (when rupee ticket is obviously cheaper) and they need to at least give me a break on the baggage charges. I requested to speak to the supervisor on staff to escalate my situation, but was told that the supervisor would not be able to help in the matter and that the instructions to charge for excess baggage came directly from their company chief. I was visibly upset because Jet Airways had rules that were inflexible and that I had to pay an extra (Rs 7,000 + Rs 4,500 = Rs 11,500) - an amount that could have been TOTALLY AVOIDED - had I booked the flight under one PNR. It was one of those ridiculous things that happen to you and then you go mad .... Jim F New York. Another tip: If your baggage is still over the allowed limit, I found out that you could also send the baggage as "Cargo" for about half the cost of regular charges. But you need to be at the airport an hour or two before your regular check-in time. Your excess baggage when sent as cargo, still accompanies you on your flight, except that it is handled by a different department and at much lower rates.
________________________________ From: Jim Fernandes <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 7:57 PM Subject: [Goanet] Experience at Jet Airways GoaNetters, Most developed nations have customer service that goes well beyond their call of duty to provide their customers a better experience. But in India, there is no such thing as a customer service. In India, its all about How-Quickly-Can-I-Make-My-Money or How-Much-Bonus-Can-I-Make. A case in point, is my recent experience with Jet Airways in India. In order to simplify purchasing my airline ticket on a website, I purchased one ticket from JFK to BOM on Virgin Atlantic and a second ticket from BOM to GOI on Jet Airways. Both tickets were purchased using my US issued credit card. I did not realize that because I purchased two different tickets, my baggage (2 pieces of 50 pounds each) would not qualify for the same weight limits on Jet Airways. The lady at the Jet counter in Mumbai explained to me that there was nothing she could do to lower my excess baggage bill and that the orders to charge for excess baggage came directly from their CEO Mr Gary Toomey. So I ended up paying Rs 7000 in excess baggage - because their rules allowed only 15 Kg (33 pounds) of baggage per passenger. This is unbelievable! First of all, they charged close to $200 for a round trip flight between BOM and GOI - a mere 50 minute flight each way and another $115 dollars on excess baggage! On the way back from GOI to BOM, I cut down on my baggage because of the rip off. Never the less, I still ended up paying Rs 4500. I just had to bring some Goan stuff back with me - otherwise I would have never considered paying outrageous fees. Just so that you do not fall in this trap, my advise is to purchase your tickets on the same PNR (one booking for the entire journey). ... ...
