The Worst British Airways Experience Ever

Update: Looking for BA in Chennai? Also read: British Airways abandons Chennai on Chennai Expat

I have previously seen and been subject to horrible customer treatment in Chennai, but what British Airways in Chennai accomplished to do in the last week, certainly broke all records.

It all started when we wanted to change the date of a paper ticket issued by BA. First we had to arrive at the former British Airways office in Chennai to find out it no longer exists. British airways in Chennai is only reachable through a phone number from now on. We call the provided phone number and are told to go to the airport, far away from the city and almost an hour drive with the Honda Kinetic in morning traffic.

At the airport we are not granted acces because security only allows passengers to enter the airport. After the usual chit chat (and the cop telling us to go to BA in
the city!)one of us is allowed to enter. Unfortunbately, only to find out there is nobody of BA present in the airport around that time. After a long search and behind security doors a British Airways employee is spotted. The employee has no clue and allows to use the phone to call the same number we previusly called. The voice on the other end now says 'why did you go to the airport??'. Frustration starts to grow as you understand. The lady adds 'go home and relax', causing the anger to hit record peaks.

Back home the same number is out of service for the rest of the day. Our first attempt failed and we file a complaint to British Airways.

The next day we finally get through the customer number of BA in Chennai. Miss Bindu from BA tells us to go to the American Airlines office in Chennai, everything will be taken care of there. The next day we find the AA office. A very friendly guy from AA tries to helps us out, but Britsih Airways has not send him any details and he can't do anything. We call the British Airways customer number from the American Airline office to tell them that. They put us 41 minutes on hold! After that they promise to send the information asap.

The next day no information has NOT been send by British Airways. It has then been more than 3 days already to simply change the date of a ticket, without any result. British Airways in Chennai really dsoesn't seem to care too much.

When we call again to the BA number, they finally ask for details concerning the date. We announce we would like to fly on the 4th of OKTOBER. British Airways calls back some time later, saying no seats are available on the 4th of SEPTEMBER and asks to upgrade. British Airways not only saves money on representatives in Chennai but also seems to be saving on providing adequate training for call center employees in India.

Finally we got more and more convinced that British airways would never help us out of this situation as they prefer ignoring customers and we started looking for alternative solutions. Finally our problem got solved by a travel agent in BRAZIL, after a few phonecalls over there the flight date was succesfully changed... within 2 hours time.

Conclusion: British Airways in Chennai fails on all fields and despite 5 weekly flights from London to Chennai they can't provide adequate customer service to customers in India.

"A warned man is worth two"...

Survival Tips To South India

For those who want to make it through their stay in South India, plan on visiting Tamil land or are new in town, here are some tips to increase your chances of survival!

1. Ban white clothes from your inventory, they are useless here. Even if you have the courage to hand wash till you die, eventually the frustration of seeing a white shirt turning into a distinct yellow brownish tint within the first half an hour you are outside will make you go mad. Go for a sari or lungi in a dark color, and blend in.

2. Avoid the Police, they spoil the fun at every occasion and it can cost you some rupees to get rid of them. The list of things the police strongly dissaproves of includes but is not limited to: kissing in public, showing affection in public, being on the street after 11PM (= deportation!), drinking on the beach, driving without helmet and parking your bike when the governor passes by. On the other hand it's completely cool to ignore all possible traffic rules and cross red lights.



3. Build up an unusual amount of patience and zen to remain calm at all price. This tip is meant to avoid swift heart attacks when you have to wait half one hour for that one customer ahead of you, when it takes you 3 days, 10 phonecalls and 20 referals to send a package home by mail or when somebody showed you in the wrong direction for the 10th time and you are hopelessly lost in the city. Indian stretchable time apllies and adds at least half an hour to the agreed hour of appointment.

4. To make yourself understandable in English on the street only use nouns. Adjectives and other difficult grammatical constructions make communication rather complicated so better to avoid them. If you do ha ve to use an adjective (or actually for every possible noun) it's always useful to add '-ing' to it as the locals will understand you as one of them. For example: no 'cool' drink, but 'cooling' drink, you are not going to work, but 'going working' etc. Picking up some Tamil will surely impress Chennai autodrivers and increase your bargaining power.


5. Chances of getting bored if you stay for a longer are real, but no worries. Grab the newspaper in a dead moment and laugh for the rest of the day. Articles are usually badly written and the weekend edition often offers some great content to discuss among friends. Don't be surprised to see presumably 'Quality' newspapers boost articles about masturbation, arranged marriages, The Amazingly Dangerous City of Chennai or guys writing about how woman should dress or be succesfully approached. Fun guaranteed! (if you go clubbing, 90% chance you'll be in the newspaper yourself)

6. Bear the unstoppable curiosity of the Indians. There are many of them and they all want to know what a foreigner like you is doing after work and in the weekends. No question cannot be asked so prepare to get your way out of questions like 'How much you earn?' 'Is your girlfriend also your lover?' or 'Is it true in Europe people only drink beer and softdrinks? or even more common 'Which country?' and 'Good name?'



So far the first edition of survival tips to South India - To be continued!

*update 24/07: see part II of Survival tips in India