OMAAT reader Vikas shares a frustrating situation that happened on a recent Air India flight, which sure does seem suspicious…
In this post:
Air India bumps travelers due to “unforeseen circumstances”
On July 3, 2025, Vikas and his family were scheduled to fly on Air India from Newark (EWR) to Delhi (DEL). They live in Washington, but drove up to Newark the day prior and spent a night at an airport hotel, in order to fly the carrier’s new Airbus A350-900 nonstop.
They checked in online for their flight and had their boarding passes printed, and were ready to go. Vikas was even tracking the inbound aircraft, and it was scheduled to arrive on time, so everything was looking good.
However, on the morning of July 3, he received an email informing him of a “change in the airline schedule” due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Now, I should mentioned that he booked through online travel agency Indian Eagle.
However, he then phoned up Air India, who confirmed that his ticket was showing as canceled, and he was told to contact the travel agency for a refund. He asked the Air India representative why the itinerary was changed. Initially the agent said “there is no such reason mentioned,” but then when pressed about it, the agent said “the particular flight was unoperational from the airline” (an audio clip of the call was shared with me).
Vikas and his family were only rebooked on a Lufthansa routing via Germany for two days later, which is of course completely unacceptable. He then booked an itinerary on a combination of Emirates and Air India, which ended up costing $2,000 more than the original booking, for his family of four.
This is where it gets fun — since Vikas was spending the night at Newark, he decided to go to the airport anyway, and found the Air India flight was open for check-in. He met four other passengers who received the same notice. He also met with the station manager for Air India, who was reportedly clueless about the reason for this, but said there was nothing he could do.
Vikas concludes with the following:
My take is Air India oversold the flight and to avoid paying compensation or voluntary offloading with compensation they cooked up a lie and offloaded passengers unethically which is a breach of contract. I booked my ticket through Indian Eagle and I am still waiting for a refund, they say Air India is not releasing it.
Side note: kudos to Vikas for how he documented this incident. He even got a picture of the “canceled” flight taking off from Newark!
My take on this strange flight cancellation situation
Vikas is right to be frustrated about this situation, and to think that something is off. I think the general challenge here is figuring out where responsibility lies between Air India (the airline operating the flight) and Indian Eagle (the travel agency through which the ticket was booked). This is one of the reasons I generally avoid booking through third parties, since you often get bounced around when things go wrong. A couple of things to note:
- The email from Indian Eagle didn’t explicitly state that the flight was canceled, but instead suggested there was a “change in the airline schedule” due to “unforeseen circumstances”
- The Air India representative initially claimed that “there is no such reason mentioned” for the rebooking, but then when pressed, suggested “the particular flight was unoperational from the airline” (I’m not sure if this was actually in the record, or if it was just a case of an airline representative making something up)
So yeah, I think at least one party here is playing games, though I’m not sure which party that is. I don’t know much about Indian Eagle, but the company has a really good Trustpilot score — 4.9 stars, with 11,000 reviews.
The way I see it, there are three possible explanations:
- The flight was overbooked, and Air India somehow tried to push people off the flight for bogus reasons, in order to avoid paying denied boarding compensation; perhaps the company starts with third party bookings, since it’s the best way to dodge responsibility
- Indian Eagle plays games, and somehow had upside by trying to rebook passengers on a route that was less costly for the company, and Air India had no part in this
- Air India and Indian Eagle are somehow in cahoots to bump passengers in a mutually beneficial way, so it was a joint effort
I’m inclined to think that this had to do more with Air India than Indian Eagle, simply because when searching online, I don’t see many similar claims from Indian Eagle customers, so something doesn’t seem right. Typically it’s airlines that would push schedule changes to travel agencies, so that seems to me like the most likely explanation.
Also keep in mind that this flight was just a couple of weeks after Air India slashed much of its international network in order to focus on reliability and aircraft maintenance. So you’d certainly think that Air India flights would’ve been absolutely packed.
One way or another, the travelers need to be made whole here, because they shouldn’t be out of pocket this much to ultimately fly a less convenient routing.
Bottom line
A family of four was scheduled to fly from Newark to Delhi on Air India, and was staying at an airport hotel and all checked in for the flight, when they received a notice of a schedule change due to “unforeseen circumstances.” When pressed, an Air India representative claimed this was because the flight was “unoperational,” despite the fact that it operated right on schedule.
There’s something really fishy here, the question is just whether it was the travel agency or Air India to blame. Regardless, the travelers deserve better, given the out of pocket expenses incurred, plus significantly less convenient routing.
What do you make of this strange Air India situation, and which party do you think is to blame?
I have an incident regarding an air and hotel package to share booked directly through the cruise line if of interest.
I agree with Ben and many of the posts on here. Third party agencies - especially OTA's have abysmal customer service.
We are currently dealing with an issue with Latam booked through Travelocity. Latam rebooked our family members who were booked on the flight - but denied our request to rebook and referred us back to Travelocity.
Travelocity says Latam will not rebook us.
Dealing with Travelocity is a joke - the...
I agree with Ben and many of the posts on here. Third party agencies - especially OTA's have abysmal customer service.
We are currently dealing with an issue with Latam booked through Travelocity. Latam rebooked our family members who were booked on the flight - but denied our request to rebook and referred us back to Travelocity.
Travelocity says Latam will not rebook us.
Dealing with Travelocity is a joke - the call center is in India and most of the reps are clueless (I doubt most of them have ever been on an airplane.) The reps at Travelocity lie constantly and will tell you anything.
I filed a complaint with DOT - but DOGE has gutted the DOT so good luck with ever hearing from someone in this current adminstration.
Beware of the risks of booking through these OTAs as most are scheming and not worth the risk.
I avoid Air India! Period ! I shall let my landlord ge network of Indians know, across the US! Sad!
A lot of people are asking why they booked through an agency. The Indian travel market is one where consolidator fares (discounted airline tickets purchased by consolidator agencies and then resold) are very common.
Vikas needs to file a formal DOT complaint and ask for both parties to turn over the history of the PNR. He has the documentation, so it should be very easy for him to do so!
It will then be extremely easy for him to find out who is the culprit (no naked finger pointing in front of the DOT) and the DOT will force it to reimburse Vikas. The bad actor will also be...
Vikas needs to file a formal DOT complaint and ask for both parties to turn over the history of the PNR. He has the documentation, so it should be very easy for him to do so!
It will then be extremely easy for him to find out who is the culprit (no naked finger pointing in front of the DOT) and the DOT will force it to reimburse Vikas. The bad actor will also be punished by the DOT for outright lying (engaging in unfair and deceptive practices is the term of art).
Bonus: the DOT intervention should also put a stop on these shenanigans (when the DOT intervenes, often jobs get reassigned).
I did, haven’t yet heard back and also planning to go to small claims court
Might as well hope for 'whirled peas' at the same time, if expecting any results from that agency these days ...
Lucky, are you taking stories from your readers?
I have a doozy of a story for EgyptAir from EWR - CAI. So many highlights from my canceled trip, CAI airport shenanigans, EWR hotel issues and other travelers’ complains.
It could be a 3 part mini series.
Call me, maybe ;)
Ben, what’s the best way to reach you if we have stories or something that might make a good story?
[email protected]
Another one on EgyptAir. Their loyalty program has been down for many months with no ETA on when customers would be able to login to access their accounts.
They're just in the conversion process to their new 'disloyalty progam' !
Stay tuned, TBA !
How nice it'd be if people could pitch their stories here, we vote for our favorites, and then @Ben reaches out to the winner(s) and writes the full story.
Did he ever get the itinerary ticketed. If so tha the airline is at fault. If not than the third party is at fault.
That is why I avoid 3rd party vendors. Book directly.
You can see boarding pass, he got checked in
Reason for using Indian Eagle is if flights are priced lower than booking directly. Last year we flew EWR-CCU (Kolkata) for $725 each for roundtrip economy on Emirates when airline website directly was charging nearly $900 for the same (would've cost over $500 more for my family of 3 to book directly)
No issues happened with the trip but can imagine pain if anything went wrong from the airline or modification needed.
Yeah, when it goes off without a hitch it works well, but that's the risk-reward with these 3rd party sites.
Its also crazy to have to pay so much more to avoid this risk. Certain credit cards should help in this case through insurance coverage for cases of airline or agency not cooperating.
India lol
You mean USA lol?
This incident took place 100% in the USA, and both carrier and agency are US DOT-approved/licensed.
Why would it be “USA lol” unless/until DOT is apprised and fails to take appropriate action? At the moment, we just have unethical behavior by an Indian party (or parties).
Take the wisdom of Proximanova and "visualise yourself onboard AI106 or A350 or something of that kind! ;)"
Magical solution to all problems surrounding Air India.
But you can get 8x points using Chase Travel with the CSR or 6x points with the Strata Elite through Citi Travel!
In fairness though, just as easily could have happened with an Aeroplan mileage redemption. Or, because it's Air India, when booking directly with Air India.
I think the big issue is that major companies DO NOT like 3rd party bookings, and if they feel like something must be 'dropped' it the 3rd party booking. I find with hotels and airlines are the worst for this, if they can cancel (or switch) a reservation made by a 3rd party to help a 1st part guest get a room or a seat they will do that. I had has less issues in recent years, but until I am in my seat or in my room I sweat over 3rd party reservations.
The answer is never to fly this cowboy outfit of an airline that is not fit and is unsaveable.
they choose not only to fly but also drive 3-4hrs from DC to EWR and stay 1 night at airport hotel, wow!!! They are true air-india fan.
It makes no sense - I get a direct flight can be more convenient especially with a family, but the driving 3-4hrs and overnighting at the airport defeats the point of convenience. Not to mention the premium one pays for a direct flight.
i also smell BS.
however complaining about scams and having India in the same sentence is kinda laughable
Ben mentioned they wanted to fly on the A350. The soon to be discontinued IAD-DEL route uses 787s. Wouldn’t be my choice with my family, but to each their own.
Well, their final destination may be Delhi and the nonstop from IAD may not be operating on their intended date of departure (it’s not a daily flight). They may have young children and may have preferred the nonstop connectivity. They did book an overnight hotel at Newark too…. I’m all for the Air India hate but sometimes people don’t really have a choice. Similar to the LH hate in Ben’s other post - it’s the...
Well, their final destination may be Delhi and the nonstop from IAD may not be operating on their intended date of departure (it’s not a daily flight). They may have young children and may have preferred the nonstop connectivity. They did book an overnight hotel at Newark too…. I’m all for the Air India hate but sometimes people don’t really have a choice. Similar to the LH hate in Ben’s other post - it’s the only airline which offers connectivity between certain routes
This is an Indian family. Air India used to be a joke. Now they are trying to reinvent themselves and become a world class airline, a part of which are their newer A350s. As an Indian, I'm sure they are curious what the new experience is like, which is why they made the trek to do so. If they are flying to India and have the opportunity, they probably thought they might as well try...
This is an Indian family. Air India used to be a joke. Now they are trying to reinvent themselves and become a world class airline, a part of which are their newer A350s. As an Indian, I'm sure they are curious what the new experience is like, which is why they made the trek to do so. If they are flying to India and have the opportunity, they probably thought they might as well try out the A350 which has had so much hype with the airline. Just as many of the readers of this blog would have done (should this be their countries airline).
Air India is still a joke lol. And will always remain a joke, It's all PR. It's basket case that can never been reformed.
IAD has so many flights to India with one stop. I don't know why he loves air-india so much that he drove his family to EWR and stayed 1 night in hotel. I know some ppl personally who have done this. It is just stupid (unless you don't know how to speak English). some people just love to complicate the travel.
I suspect it's because the flight was operated on the brand new A350-900, which has been getting rave reviews. Unlike AI's typical widebody offering which often consists of a fairly old and totally beaten-to-crap B777. Those are known for being filthy, worn out, and often containing extra little guests that have 6 legs and antennae. The new A350 is their flagship and has a new configuration with lovely seats, AFE, etc. My guess is that...
I suspect it's because the flight was operated on the brand new A350-900, which has been getting rave reviews. Unlike AI's typical widebody offering which often consists of a fairly old and totally beaten-to-crap B777. Those are known for being filthy, worn out, and often containing extra little guests that have 6 legs and antennae. The new A350 is their flagship and has a new configuration with lovely seats, AFE, etc. My guess is that he wanted to experience that for himself.
Partially true- as an avgeek A350 was the attraction but also I wanted my kids to experience India onboard as this was their first India trip and I wanted a direct flight. Timing works perfect as it is mostly a day flight and lands in noon giving us plenty of action.
Chances are those recent A350's are already 'broken' -in 1
Honest question: What is the benefit of using a third party like India Eagle to book this day and age? Do they have better prices? I have an Indian co-worker who always goes through a travel agency to book and I never understood it. Is there something in India that is different? Thanks
Can't speak for others, but I used a third-party to book because my payment would not go through on Air India's website. I (American) tried multiple cards and none would work. Apparently, this is a known issue with Air India when using a foreign credit card. My only option was to book through a third-party for my Air India flights.
Sometimes it can be through habit, my parents took a whole much of convincing to book directly (and now do nothing but), but I wouldn't underestimate the advantage for Indian based customers in the ability to pay for the tickets in cash. While the wealthy (who are your international travellers) have access to the banking system they may have....cash that has gone unnoticed by the tax man... that they would prefer to spend on their...
Sometimes it can be through habit, my parents took a whole much of convincing to book directly (and now do nothing but), but I wouldn't underestimate the advantage for Indian based customers in the ability to pay for the tickets in cash. While the wealthy (who are your international travellers) have access to the banking system they may have....cash that has gone unnoticed by the tax man... that they would prefer to spend on their trip abroad.
Similarly they may use grey market foreign exchanges where they collect their cash at their destination having paid in India to also make use of this cash on their holiday.
@Daniel - There used to be a culture in India where when people needed to book a flight, they would go to either a travel agent or to an airline's booking office. Either way, it was done in person. A travel agent had more options as they could look up flights on multiple carriers. Nowadays, this is less common since more and more people have access to the internet. A lot of airlines have closed...
@Daniel - There used to be a culture in India where when people needed to book a flight, they would go to either a travel agent or to an airline's booking office. Either way, it was done in person. A travel agent had more options as they could look up flights on multiple carriers. Nowadays, this is less common since more and more people have access to the internet. A lot of airlines have closed their in-person offices for customers in that part of the world these past few years, but most still maintain a presence. However, many people are creatures of habit and go with that they know, which is why a good number still use travel agents.
Also, a lot of people don't use banks for all their money in the Indian Subcontinent. As far as I know, most banks are not insured by the government. So, if the bank fails, your money's gone. Because of that, I know a lot of people who use cash for all purchases, including airline tickets.
Not sure where you got this information from, but all banks are insured no differently than in other countries (up to a specified amount), and has been like this for many decades. It is otherwise just not possible to operate a bank as a licence won't be issued.
Yes Daniel, sometimes third parties have better prices. For example, I'm on a one-way business class AKL-DFW on Fiji Airways via Nadi in February that I got for $1,400 (I used AA miles on the outbound to AKL on Fiji Airways business class.) On Fiji Airways, the price was double! But I agree it can be a mess if something goes wrong.
Daniel - it's twofold and both aspects are cultural. First, flying is relatively new to a big portion of Indian population. It makes sense to accept help wherever they can get with the logistics involved. Secondly, it's a very price sensitive market. Often you'll find 1 person paying for 4 tickets, and saving $100 per person for a family of 4 may start to make sense, and that's what a lot of these (sometimes admittedly dodgy) can offer.
Separately, it was announced two days ago that Air India is also indefinitely suspending service to IAD starting in September.
Campbell Wilson must go. End of story.
LOL yes hes the problem. AI has been trash for decades and the Indian government which is filled with corruption will never hold them accountable
What happened is completely unacceptable. However, this is a key reason why I stopped using 3rd party travel sites for booking. Whenever i book via the airline directly and there is a cancellation, the airline has to give me alternate flights as supposed to the “call your travel agent”.
The user is probably right about over sold flight and AI just went ahead with bumping passengers who were not their direct customers. Wrong but...
What happened is completely unacceptable. However, this is a key reason why I stopped using 3rd party travel sites for booking. Whenever i book via the airline directly and there is a cancellation, the airline has to give me alternate flights as supposed to the “call your travel agent”.
The user is probably right about over sold flight and AI just went ahead with bumping passengers who were not their direct customers. Wrong but lesson is to be learned here about not using 3rd party websites no matter how good the fare is.
Airlines usually like passing the blame on to agencies, but they have very little or no control over the system