THE INDIGO IMBROGLIO

 THE INDIGO IMBROGLIO

The thousands (nearly 60,000 as of now) who were meant to fly high are today literally grounded—ironically on World Soil Day—not for any environmental cause, but because they are stranded in Indigo hangars across India.

One of my colleagues, travelling with a student to take part in India International Science Congress, gets her flight from Doha to Delhi 6 hours delayed, only to realise that her Chandigarh connection is cancelled. But they are able to move ahead by taxi!

The voice of the middle class is loud and clear; the media amplifies it instantly. The plight of these thousands is rightly visible and heard.

At the very least, Indigo could show courtesy by cancelling doubtful flights in advance, giving passengers

the freedom to look for other options.

And the pity is that, unlike any other sector of transport, here the law of demand and supply appears to be having a totally free operational domain - with no norm to restrain extortion. This is evident in this incident, with fares going up 5 to 6 times, and even otherwise, during the festival or tourist season.

Now contrast this with Indian Railways.

On 27 November, 14 of my colleagues travelling from Sitapur to Ghaziabad by an express train scheduled to arrive at 3:45 pm finally saw it roll in only at 5:00 am the next day. They reached their staff development programme 12 hours late. Their long wait was stretched in small, hopeful extensions of 30 minutes to 2 hours. Nearly 1,000 passengers were affected.

Yet there was no news report, no outcry, no apology from the General Manager or the Minister—not even an acknowledgement. It is simply taken for granted that “this is how it is.” Hopefully this is now becoming more of an exception than the rule.

To be fair, train passengers still have options: they can step out, walk, take a rickshaw, hop on a truck, or catch a bus—even after boarding the train—if they really want to. But when our trains upgrade to Western standards, even these small freedoms will vanish. Centralised control and automated doors will never allow the typical Indian commuter’s instinctive flexibility.

THE RESILIENT INDIGO

After those tempestuous four or five days, when the travelling vocal middle class of India was really put to the test, revealing the monopolistic and exploitative free market, where the state can be a passive partner, I ventured to test the acclaimed Indigo again. My flight to Lucknow was booked just one day prior to the explicit eruption of the crisis. My mail would yield an automated response of appreciation followed by a do-not-reply mail with an advisory to go to the website, which will not be responsive, or  2 phone numbers which would stop after stage 1 or 2, or see WhatsApp recourse,, which would make you mad by asking you to check the website.  The website, after logging in would indicate 'you had been away for a long time'. The mail would cite your complaint reference and indicate that the case was closed. This repeated in cycles the next 5 days, with my request to either refund or assure that the flight would take off fell on deaf ears. Meanwhile, if the flight were to be cancelled I had few options with a packed week of engagements, which all depended on this crucial flight. AI and Spice Jet - all appeared extortionists, differing only in grade. However, on the 8th, unprompted, I receive both an email and a WhatsApp message: your flight is cancelled. You could opt for a full refund or a rescheduled flight the same day, two hours after the cancelled one.  I opt for the latter. WhatsApp assistance of Indigo came in handy when the website failed again. But a boarding pass would be issued immediately only if you have in for the next stage of extortion - of choosing seats ranging from 500 Rs to 3200 Rs.  Fortunately, this time you could opt for random allotment, only that you are punished by having to wait till 4 hours before the departure to get the boarding pass by email and WhatsApp. Finally, it did arrive, just about 3 hours before the departure time. At the airport, it all appeared normal. The flight was almost full. The passengers were all seated by 7 pm. Some movement was observed around the scheduled time of 7.25. But finally, it was 7.40 pm when it finally took off. All the same. It did touch down by 9.42 pm. More than 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. And just in another 10 minutes, my baggage also arrives, making it possible for me to catch one of the last trips of the Lucknow Metro!! Wow! That appears to be bouncing back. Real resilience! Hope that happens with adherence to the prescribed safety measures, both for the commuters and for the staff!