Indian classical singer Shubha Mudgal on Saturday took to Twitter after national carrier Air India converted her business class ticket from Mumbai to Goa to economy class without any prior notice.
Mudgal had booked AI 663 Mumbai-Goa flight to attend the Serendipity Art Festival in Goa and learnt that the airline was using an all-economy aircraft while doing a web check-in from home at 2 am, Hindustan Times reported.
Learning this, she tweeted in the morning, “@airindiain What’s going on? You sell business class tickets. Turn the flight into an Economy flight. Don’t inform passengers. No refund. Refer AI 663.”
Responding to her complaint, Air India said, "Ms. Mudgal we are extremely sorry for inconvenience caused to you. Due to operational reasons the aircraft had to be changed. Kindly DM us your PNR so that we can take the action for refund.Once again kindly accept our sincere apologies."
Mudgal, who was flying with her husband Aneesh Pradhan, said the airline should have either sent a text message or an email stating that the business class seat was no longer available.
The airline said it had "tried contacting the passenger, but did not receive a response.”
“We do send prior messages on the available mobile numbers regarding the change. We had tried contacting the passenger, but she we did not receive a response,” an Air India spokesperson said.
Responding to this, the singer said, “It could be true that the airline called me, but I had a concert on Friday and may have missed the call. This is all the more reason that an email or an SMS alert should have been sent. When we were selecting the row during check-in, we discovered the aircraft was changed to an economy flight.”
