‘Not sure if it’s a scam’: R Ashwin doubles down on IndiGo Airline after Harsha Bhogle’s complaint

Just a day after cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle slammed IndiGo Airline for harassing an elderly couple over blocked seats on a flight, Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has come out in full force against the same airline. Ashwin, who recently shared his own experience of booking a flight with the airline, claimed that blocking seats on the plane doesn’t help much as the management can still decide to allocate your blocked seat to someone else.

“This is becoming a real pain in the ass @IndiGo6E, my last experience with them via a third party booking platform was horrible. They make you pay and end up doing what they want to do.

“Not sure if its a scam!! heyyy who will ever catch them??? All we can do is don’t trust them. Even if you pay they won’t give you reserved seats, don’t waste your time and energy,” Ashwin wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

This is going to be a regular plague @IndiGo6E My recent experience with them via a third party booking platform was terrible, they make you pay and then do whatever they want.

I’m not sure if it’s a scam!!

heyyy who’s ever gonna pull them up???

Everything we… https://t.co/cMTf4fFvKh

— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) August 26, 2024

Earlier, Harsha Bhogle shared the story of an elderly passenger who had to run across the plane despite having blocked the seat he wanted in advance. The commenter posted on X: “Another example of #IndigoFirstPassengerLast. An elderly couple on my flight had paid for seats in row 4 so that they didn’t have to walk much. Without any explanation, #Indigo changed it to seat 19. The gentleman would have struggled to walk up to row 19 in a narrow aisle. But who cares. A few people had to make a noise, point out the immorality and only then, thanks to the kindness of the cabin crew, the original seats were restored. But, and this is the point, they had to make a noise or Indigo would make them walk up to 19 and then check after boarding if they could be allocated 4, which meant they had to walk back.

“The elderly lady was softly complaining about how often this happens and how stressful it is for people of their age to travel #Indigo. “I wish they didn’t have a monopoly,” she said. Such a shame. I’m sure @IndiGo6E you can sensitize your ground staff to put the passenger first once in a while. It was so disappointing to see how casually they transported elderly passengers. With success comes responsibility. As someone who is proud of a successful Indian enterprise, I hope you can be more sensitive and not institutionalize this indifferent attitude.”

Following Harsha Bhogle’s outburst on social media, the airline also responded to X and the cricket commentator’s complaint.

“Mr Bhogle, thank you for bringing this to our attention and taking the time to speak with us. We sincerely regret the confusion that has caused inconvenience to customers. Our crew intervened promptly and ensured that they were able to travel comfortably in their originally assigned seats.

“We have also reached out to customers to address this personally. We greatly appreciate your understanding and look forward to serving you again soon,” the airline said in response.