JFK International Airport

I want to bring to your notice a case of harassment against me during my travel on Etihad airways. I was supposed to fly on Etihad aiways flight EY 218 from JFK, New York to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on 11th Feb 2010. My booking reference number was 3ZQJLR. When I presented my passport and e-ticket to the personnel at the desk for issuing boarding passes, the lady asked me to put my bags on the conveyer belt for weighing them. She then printed out baggage stickers. Then she suddenly asked me to present the credit card with which I had booked my tickets. I told her that it was my Indian credit card and I did not have it with me at that time. She said I could not board the flight unless I showed that to them. I told them that neither anyone had asked me to carry it with me in the first place, nor did my ticket say that. I had been talking with the airlines customer care daily for the past days (regarding rescheduling) and even they had not mentioned it. I had already traveled one segment of this journey on 23rd October 2009 from New Delhi- New York. Even then, I wasn’t asked to show that card.

This lady asked me to talk to the ticketing officer who thought it shouldn’t be a problem and asked me to speak with the supervisor. The supervisor initially said that I just needed to tell them the credit card number which I did. But another supervisor interfered saying that I “must” present the card or a get a copy of it faxed over to their office. With great difficulty (6:30am in India), my father in New Delhi managed to fax over a copy of my credit card to their office at about 9 pm EST. (flight was at 10 pm EST). The supervisor then refused saying that I was late. I spoke with the deputy manager too but of no avail. I told him that the fax was right there in their office but they did not even have the courtesy to go and check. They acted very rudely and unprofessionally and flatly refused to accommodate me. In the mean time, they continued to put “stand by” passengers on the plane while I wasn’t allowed.
I did not have a place to stay the night in New York city ( I had come from Philadelphia). They refused to provide me accommodation/assistance whatsoever). After a lot of pleading all they could do was to give me a ticket to travel on 13th Feb 2010.

On my flight back to Delhi on 12th Feb, I met another passenger who had faced a similar problem on 11th Feb. He told me that he was given a compensation of $800 by the deputy supervisor.

It is rather unfortunate that an airline ranked the world’s leading airline in 2009 treats its guests so unprofessionally. Nobody knew what to do that night, it was a total chaos. Only I was at the receiving end of their negligent and callous attitude. On top of that, they compensate some passengers and brush away others. I am a doctor by profession and understand how public dealing is done. This episode was really infuriating for me. I am writing this email in the hope that serious action will be taken against the officers of Etihad aiways at JFK airport, New York City. I shall make sure that this is brought to the notice of every possible higher authority in your administration.

Kindly do the needful.
Sincerely,
Dr.Aaditya Singhal

are flights departuring from JFK
ANYONE CAN HELP ME, MI FLIGHT IS AT 9