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SpiceJet makes reparations for misplacing M’luru-origin woman’s luggage

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spicejet luggageMangaluru: Last month, Newskarnataka had published a report about a Mangaluru-origin woman whose luggage was misplaced by SpiceJet twice in one month.

It can be recalled that Diana Fernandes, an Illinois-based woman, was travelling from Mangaluru to Bengaluru via SpiceJet, to catch a flight to the US, when her bag was misplaced for a second time.

After a lot of calls to SpiceJet’s customer service, repeated emails and the intervention and the never-give-up attitude of Diana’s niece, Charmaine Fernandes, the airline finally delivered the bag, but not to the rightful owner.

Instead of sending the bag, which was wrongly tagged to Mumbai, to the rightful owner, who was already in the USA, they sent it to Charmaine, who lives here in the city.

The two women, determined to not be taken for a ride, kept contacting SpiceJet officials and even took to social media to bring the incident to the public’s notice. She even raised a complaint on AirSeva and contacted the DGCA about the incident. She was then contacted by Spicejet, who informed her that her aunt’s excess baggage fee, paid online and at the airport would be refunded, but there was no mention of any compensation for the trouble caused to the patron.

After Newskarnataka published the report, Charmaine posted it on social media, following which, she was contacted by SpiceJet, informing her that her aunt would be paid Rs 1000 in cash as compensation.

Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, Charmaine said that the amount they were offering as compensation was peanuts compared to what they made her aunt go through twice. Additionally, they sent her a conflicting email saying that they would send the aggrieved passenger an e-voucher worth Rs 1000 to be used for her next flight with SpiceJet.

What is the use of an e-voucher if my aunt decides not to use this airline’s services in the future after her pathetic experience with them,” Charmaine asked.

In an email conversation with Newskarnataka, Charmaine had said, “Every mail is being sent by a different person. Ideally, one person should have been following up this case from the beginning to the end. We mailed my aunt’s bank details to them nearly three times for refund of excess baggage fee paid at Mangalore Airport… and still they keep mailing us asking for the bank details… dealing with their staff every day for almost 20 days, I am convinced this airline’s most staff are unprofessional, casual and careless… there is no sense of ethics.(sic)”

She said that she had even contacted SpiceJet on their Facebook page, but got no response.

Now, however, after repeated attempts and constant follow-ups, SpiceJet has paid Diana a “decent amount” (to remain undisclosed) as compensation for her troubles, according to her niece.

“It was definitely not easy,” Charmaine said about the ordeal.

“They tried fooling around, but later, they had to give in when they realised that they could not fool us any longer. We had to write several mails, lodge complaints with AirSev and the DGCA too. We never told them how much compensation we wanted; we merely asked them to pay us according to the law. So they decided the figure,” she explained.

“After I wrote to the DGCA, I received a call last week saying that they were ready to ship my aunts luggage to the USA. But, when I insisted that they ensure that the bag reaches her (Diana) residence, they said they will get back to me. Yesterday (December 2) they called me and said that since they cannot ship her luggage to the USA as there are many restrictions, they decided to give my aunt a monetary compensation as per SpiceJet’s policy concerning loss of baggage,” she added.

While Charmaine feels that the compensation offered is low, she says that she is thankful that SpiceJet finally did the right thing and compensated her aunt.

Giving all credit to her niece for her “indefatigable and undaunted approach”, Diana told Newskarnataka, “I wish to emphasize that it was not so much about the monetary compensation, rather, the fight was for the Airline to own up to its errors, validate the passenger’s concerns and do the right thing by the passenger. In the end, Spicejet came around and agreed to settle the matter amicably. We can now move on.”

“The Spicejet staff have redeemed themselves by redressing my grievances,” Diana added.

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Andrea Noronha

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