Deekshith D V
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Mar 7: In an unfortunate incident, a woman from the city allegedly lost valuable items from her baggage following her travel by SpiceJet flight from Dubai to Mangaluru.
Nazma Tabassum Ashraf, a resident of Kodialbail here, boarded the SpiceJet flight SG 146 on February 21 at 6.45 pm and landed at Mangaluru International Airport at around 1.45 am on February 22. When the flight landed at the airport, she along with co-passengers were informed at immigration that luggage would be delivered to their addresses personally by the SpiceJet staff within two days, as the flight could not carry baggage over its capacity.
Representational image
On the morning of February 23, at around 9.30 am, Nazma received her baggage, which was dropped at her gate. The staff who delivered the baggage did not wait for her to check the baggage. "I was shell-shocked to see that my valuables - a Samsung mobile phone worth Rs 1 lac, an Apple wristwatch worth Rs 25,000 and a lot of expensive chocolates were missing from my suitcase. I rushed to the airport immediately to file a complaint about losing the valuables while the suitcase was in the possession of SpiceJet," she told daijiworld.
The lady at the SpiceJet counter at MIA assured that they would get back to her within 3 to 4 days. Meanwhile, she also filed a complaint with SpiceJet customer relations through email regarding the missing valuables. In reply to her mail, SpiceJet apologized for the inconvenience caused, but citing that it was a 'rare' case, refused to take responsibility.
"...baggage handling is monitored at each level, which minimizes the chances of a lapse that results in a misplaced baggage item. Unfortunately, what happened in your case is a very rare instance where baggage item has got misplaced. Spicejet also highly recommends that passengers must remove all the valuables and medication from their checked-in luggage and place them in their carry-on baggage. The airline does not accept any responsibility for these items," the airline replied to Nazma.
Speaking to daijiworld, Nazma said, "My luggage was delivered in an inappropriate way. When I received the suitcase, I found that it was tampered. When I complained through email, the people from the company conveniently washed their hands of the matter, saying that they were not responsible for what had happened. What I want to know is that if had they handed over my luggage on arrival, would this theft have ever occurred? Who asked the airline to keep my luggage with them for 48 hours? If they cannot take the responsibility of safeguarding our luggage, why should we agree to give our luggage to be checked in? Shouldn't the airline respect our trust and try to at least investigate the matter?
"I have been traveling from UAE to Mangaluru for the past 25 years and I have never ever experienced this sort of a nightmare, and never experienced this kind of careless attitude from any of the airlines till date. I would request the airport authorities to find the thief and take strict action against the accused. The culprits need to be arrested and I should be compensated for this," she said.
"I have also lodged a complaint against SpiceJet and airport authorities (Adani Group). I will be also be filing a case in the district Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. I keep visiting Mangaluru every three months but I have never been through such a horrific experience. I have traveled throughout the world, I have never faced such an ordeal," she added.
On SpiceJet's reply that passengers must remove all the valuables from their checked-in luggage and place them in their carry-on baggage, Nazma said, "Even if I did put them in checked-in baggage, it goes through the conveyor belt, it goes through the scan. If they see any electronic items they should have told me to remove them and put them in carry-on baggage. Why did the SpiceJet staff who were at the counter and who scanned my luggage not alert me? I would have done that. It is their duty to alert passengers on these matters."
Speaking to daijiworld, PRO of SpiceJet said that the matter has not come to the company's notice. "This has not come to our notice. We do not have any information on this. If the lady sends details, we can check on this. If she sends an email, we can check our internal departments. Restricted items are not allowed in checked-in luggage, such as a power bank. If the luggage had a powerbank, it will be not loaded into the aircraft. When checking if it is found, with the permission of the passenger they open the bag and remove the powerbank under the security camera. There is a separate team in the company to look into such issues. If the email is sent, we will check and let you know what has happened."