The Management of Air India are SEFs

As commercial airlines go, Air India is nothing to write home about. Air India ranked third-worst performing airline in the world, reported Economic Times in Jan 2017. Air India’s all-round dismal performance–customer service, timeliness, cabin service, heavy commercial losses, etc., etc.–is not surprising considering that it is a Government of India enterprise. Nothing that the GOI does is ever done competently and well. The bureaucrats and politicians are perhaps the least competent in the world, barring a few African banana republics.  

But some people do fly Air India. I am, for example, booked on Air India flight AI 144 from Newark Liberty International (EWR) at the end of October. I want to travel to Mumbai (BOM) from EWR but no seats are available on that date to BOM. Seats are available for Delhi (DEL) though. So I am going to arrive at DEL instead of BOM.

What’s wrong with that, you may ask. Perhaps, you may conjecture, the flight goes from EWR to DEL and then to BOM. Well, no. The flight goes from EWR to BOM and then on to DEL. If there are no seats to BOM, how is it that there are seats to DEL? Anyway, what this amounts to is that I will arrive at BOM at 2 PM, wait around, board the same flight and arrive at DEL at 7 PM. Then I will have to buy a separate ticket from DEL and arrive at BOM at midnight.

When someone imposes a cost on another for his own benefit, he is simply being evil. But when someone imposes a cost on another even though it does not benefit him, he is a stupid evil f#(k. You’d agree that being an EF is economically better than being an SEF.

The people at Air India are being SEFs. Why are they SEFs? Because they don’t pay for the mismanagement and the losses that AI imposes on the taxpayers of India. Of course the taxpayers, by not ever protesting the actions of the SEFs have proved that they themselves are just SFs.

End of rant.

I want to write to Air India management. Except that it will probably end up in trash.

NOTES:

  1. The ticket price to BOM is the same as to DEL. So AI is not making any more money by forcing me to go to DEL. I spend an additional 10 hours and the price of the DEL-BOM ticket. On top of that, AI loses a BOM-DEL seat that they could have sold to someone else.
  2. I wish I could just walk off the plane at BOM and not do the BOM-DEL sector. But my bags will end up in DEL, where I will have to do immigration and customs.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

8 thoughts on “The Management of Air India are SEFs”

    2. Dear Atanu:

      There is a brigth possibility that you have tried booking on travel portals for EWR-BOM and the Air India option did not show up. Try the same search on AirIndia’s portal and the direct flight for EWR-BOM (AI-144) does show up.

      Please check on AirIndia website and not through a travel portal such as cleartrip.

      Some sectors are blacked out and do not appear on travel portals for whatever reason.

      Regards

      Taun

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      1. Tarun,

        I thought I had explained what transpired. So let me try again. My secretary called up Air India. She is CR in the following.

        CR: I’d like to book a seat from EWR to BOM on the 30th of October.
        AI: Madam, I have a seat from EWR to DEL but nothing to BOM.
        CR: That’s a pity. I need a seat from EWR to BOM.
        AI: Madam, we have a seat on that date for EWR to DEL. That’s all we have.
        CR: OK, in that case, please book that. We will do a separate booking for DEL to BOM. Thank you.

        Now, that makes sense if the flight were from EWR to DEL. But in truth the flight is from EWR to BOM to DEL. I will not insult anyone’s intelligence by again going into the total effing idiocy of AI.

        Thank you.

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  2. There may be other reasons, just for consideration. Not at all supporting AI. Your price point on return ticket for that day might have forced to give that option. I too recently flew by AI. EWR to Hyd. I didn’t have to pay extra for the ticket. But stupid of me to choose the option to fly out if Delhi and spend extra 6 hours and all unavoidable security harrowings. I blame passengers as much as airlines for the flight experience

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  4. NOT a single flight I ever took was Air India though on the whole Air India is cheaper. I paid for all my flights from my pocket. I believe in enriching competent guys outside of India. Of my 14 International flights this year 100% were foreign Airlines. Air India does not deserve a dime. Each patron of Air India is directly responsible for keeping the defunct business afloat for a few more months. Only to be bailed our by taxes paid by maid servants and taxi drivers.

    PS: A former MD of Air India used to pack Re.1 lunch and dinner for entire family. i repeat. MD – Managing Director. Any kind of patronage to any Public Sector Undertaking is basically immoral. I even fueled my car at Shell. 100%. Though Shell charged a couple of rupees more on a liter.

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