Err, I know the sense of entitlement this post evokes, but stay with me, and hear my story of le-sigh and disappointment. The title of this post the exact words I heard from the TSA this evening at JFK.

I am flying the American Airlines First Class in their 3-class Flagship Service First Class today, in fact this post is being written somewhere up in the air right now. This made me eligible to use the brand new Flagship Check-In service introduced by American Airlines earlier this month at Terminal 8, New York JFK. After a red carpet experience with American’s staff at JFK, the agent at the check-in counter hands me back my Indian passport and my boarding pass, and tells me that I’ll be able to use the TSA-Pre security queue specially organised for the Flagship Check-in passengers.

Now, I’ve read it in the past on American Airlines’ website, where they describe the Flagship Check-in experience:

An expedited security line, offering you premium access through security checkpoints

Now, this is something I assume standard fare for the elite and premium cabin travellers, and I expected this to be American’s “Priority Access” service & no more. However, American has a designated queue at the JFK airport for its Flagship check-in eligible passengers, and apparently all of them get TSA-Pre. Except me and a few of course!

When the agent told me I was going to get TSA Pre, I assumed that there was a special arrangement where all premium cabin passengers were going to get this service. In my 1.5 years of flying around in the USA as an alien, after the TSA Pre was announced, I did never get the 3-beeps and I assumed I knew it was because I was an alien for all purposes and hence…

Anyhow, I turn up and the TSA asks me for a USA identification, which I definitely don’t have except for my Starbucks card and my AA EXP card, so in spite of the 3 beeps, he politely tells me, “AJ, no Pre for you!”. But he was right.  Worst bit, there is no other Priority Security queue, so I wasted about 30 minutes to get to the scanners and go over, which left me with exactly about 15-20 minutes to pop into the lounge and get something to eat. And that, after a long day in NYC when I sparingly ate due to various reasons!

Hey TSA, I’d be happy to volunteer in the beta for a program which lets aliens come through the TSA checkpoints with some ease!

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Like I mentioned about two weeks back, flyers from Delhi are supposed to get a refund for their domestic or international flights, booked before January 1, 2013 and flying after. I did not get quite the enthusiastic response which I was not expecting anyways. Here is how various airlines and travel agents responded:

Indigo, booked via GoIbibo.com (enquiry for 3 PNRs)

Air India, booked via PremierMiles.co.in (3rd Attempt)

Jet Airways, booked directly

Like you can see, the airlines and the Online Travel Agents are passing the buck to each other and no one is either clear on this, or does not want to take on the responsibility. The total impact of all these tickets I am chasing up is Rs. 500 or so, but I feel airlines and travel agencies should have been responsive and responsible rather than the customer being proactive here.

Apparently, there is a process in place, which is very cumbersome and designed to put off the intention to apply for and get any such refunds. The government is planning to intervene that things are put in order here.

Excuses Excuses. One can book a ticket online, pay for it online, get it issued without any manual intervention as per some airline executives, but you cannot follow the same trail in reverse and put the money back on my credit card/bank account?

Anyone got any success? I haven’t. But I am determined to get to the bottom of this!

Related Post:

• Flying from Delhi? Get a refund.

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Beginning of this week, the regulator of Indian aviation DGCA and the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) were slammed with a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of India, asking them to explain all the charges that are imposed on top of the base fare of the ticket, such as the transaction fee which pops up just when you are ready to enter the payment details on the credit card page, something like this:

The industry and its regulator were asked to explain the extra charges, and whether these had the backing/approval of the government. For instance, even the Mumbai and Delhi airport were asked to explain the extra User Development Fee charged. Here is an excerpt from the full newsreport:

But Justices DK Jain and Madan Lokur, hearing a petition that raised objections to the User Development Fee (UDF) being charged by different airlines, went beyond the scope of the petition to ask regulator DGCA, the FIA and the Delhi and Mumbai airport operators DIAL and MIAL to explain the rationale of imposing extra charges on passengers such as UDF, Airport Development Fee and transaction fee.

…

The DGCA was asked to explain whether it had taken any action against any airline for violating their tariff bands. The court also asked the regulator to state in an affidavit all circulars and orders issued to airlines on tariff fixation and collection of other charges from passengers.

These charges first came into existence in June 2012, to the best of what I know and Jet Airways started the practice.

It seems the first judgement have already been made by the court within 2 days, and airlines have been asked to resist from charging any sort of transaction fee on the customers, under whatever name. While I don’t think this will lead to refunds, you can expect to see at least 150 Rs. per passenger charges coming down in the days ahead on the domestic legs, since fees such as this will go away.

(H.T.: Pradeep Nalluri)

Related Stories:

• Another new Jet Airways convenience fee now in place!
• Is phone booking the new way to avoid credit card convenience fee on Spicejet?

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