Grammy winner Ricky Kej slams Air India flight experiences but will continue to fly the airline; here’s why

Three-time Grammy award winner and the UN Goodwill Ambassador (UNCCD) Ricky Kej has shared his bad experience with Air India. The Grammy winner shared two incidents - one on domestic flight from Delhi to Bengaluru and other from Mumbai to San Francisco. Notably, this is not the first time the singer has highlighted his issues with the airline. In the post too, he also mentioned, “I am certain a few people will troll me, asking me why do I keep doing this to myself.. travel through such a terrible airline, but I will continuesly give them chances and criticize them for errors, till they improve.”

In the first incident, during his 3.35 am flight from Delhi to Bengaluru on September 14, he wrote, “I reached the Air India check in line at the Delhi Airport. Was flying business class. As always the lady at the counter was distracted, had to get her attention."

He further added, “I had not slept for 2 days and was travelling directly after performing a concert at the ITC Maurya. My bag was overweight by 6 killos, I immediately offered to pay, as I always do.”

He claimed, “They told me I need to go to a counter which was quite a walk away just to pay. I requested them to bring the wireless payment machine to the check in counter, like all the other airlines do (I routinely pay for excess baggage due to the nature of my profession).”

He further added, “They refused (Devika, Ravi Kumar, Mukeeta & Neha). So I walked to the counter they directed me to. The person at that counter (Sunil) refused to even look in my direction and rudely said he was busy.”

“I went went back to the check in counter. They told me there is nothing they could do and made a call to Sunil and told him to accept my payment. I made the walk back to Sunil (for a second time). I offered to pay by UPI. I did not have any credit cards or cash. He flatly refused UPI (Shocking for an Indian brand). He said UPI is usless and Air India does not accept it. I protested.. told him that I have UPI attatched with multiple banks and can ensure the payment goes through, he refused to talk to me further.”

Explaining it further, he added, “I went back to the checkin counter. They told me there is nothing they could do and offered to cancel my ticket instead!! They refused to give me any details on a refund and gave me back my suitcase. Then I argued with them - told them I am sleep deprived, I need to be on the flight, and they are treating me like shit.”

"Finally after 50 min of this ordeal, and almost missing my flight, on my insistsnce, Devika called Sunil.. he finally agreed to come to the checkin counter (where i was) with the wireless machine, and accepted the UPI payment which went through effortlessly in a few seconds. I left for security check and boarded the flight.”

Calling it a clear case of bullying customer, he added, “I should have never gone through that 50 min ordeal when they could have settled the payment within seconds. All the CCTV footage is surely available to Air India to verify this incident closely.”

Kej's shares second experience with Air India

On September 20, during his flight from Mumbai to San Francisco, he mentioned his routine of taking walks every three hours. During one of his walks, he noticed, “A blue light was switched on by one of the passengers (call for service). One of the flight attendants saw the indicator, and very nonchalantly (while being seated on a makeshift chair made from trays) reached up to the touchscreen and turned off the blue light while not skipping a beat in the conversation.”

He further added, “I was appalled, but did not say anything. Then as expected, after a few minutes, the blue light was switched on again by the same passenger. Like clockwork, the same flight attendant turned off the light through the touch screen.”

He added, “I was now shocked that all three flight attendants were totally fine with this response and behaviour. Now the blue light got switched on again by the exact same passenger for the 3rd time. This time I did not hold back. I told the flight attendant what she already knew, that the same passenger has called her for a third time.. so maybe she could take a break from her conversation. She made a huge face, an under-the-breath remark and went to check on the passenger. I could not get the name of the flight attendant, because she was the only one not wearing a badge.”

Kej reaffirmed in his third tweet that he would continue to fly with the airline and added that he wouldn't advocate for a boycott or give up on it unless there were significant safety concerns.

In his fourth tweet, Kej highlighted the frustrating situation on Air India flight AI811, where the air conditioning was off for an extended period, causing discomfort. However, he added that after raising the issue, the crew eventually activated the AC.

Airlines response on Ricky Kej's tweet

The airline responded saying, “Dear Sir, we sincerely regret the inconvenience experienced during your travel. We are thoroughly investigating the issue and will take appropriate action. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

Past experience with airline

In August, he highlighted that he was downgraded from Business Class not once but thrice. He wrote, “Wow.. 3rd time this is happening to me in one year. I booked and paid for a business class ticket on @airindia from Mumbai to Bengaluru. When I reach departure gate, the staff rudely tells me that I have been downgraded (for no reason) and they cannot give me a refund. What's up with AirIndia? The person on the counter is Nishita Singh. Absolutely not helpful, and impolite. @airindia really needs to introspect and see if they are capable of running an airline in the first place.”