Air passengers lose their creams, lotions

NEW DELHI: There is a price to pay when you fly cheap — that’s what many passengers of the Patna-Delhi Air Deccan flight 727 felt on landing in Delhi.

Passengers, who had carried creams, lotions and perfumes in their hand baggage, were told by the Deccan staff in Patna to put them in packets and submit them at the security counter. They were assured that all the items would be handed back to them in Delhi. But on reaching their destination, they were informed by the counter staff that there were no such packets.

When irate passengers created a ruckus, the staff  told them they were “not responsible” for the packets. Manish Kumar, one of the passengers, complained, “They told us specifically to put the items in small poly bags which were given name tags. How can they say they are not responsible?”

Another passenger Arpita Singh said, “I have lost expensive perfumes and lotions. If they had told us to throw them in the bin I would have, but the fact that they made us go through this sham of making packets, with promises of giving them back in Delhi, just shows their intentions.”

When contacted, Air Deccan staff in Delhi and Patna blamed one another. Vinod Singh, director of the Patna branch, told DNA, “We put everything on the flight. Delhi is responsible for it. We will try and see what best we can do.”

However, Kishore Bhatnagar, shift supervisor in Delhi, said, “We have not received anything from Patna. We don’t know what was conveyed to the passengers. We can’t do anything. But we have taken down their complaint.”

Passengers also complained of mishandling of luggage by the Air Deccan staff.