‘Will Be Trolled But…’: Grammy Winner Ricky Kej Flags Concerns About Air India Services, Airline Responds

Grammy award winning music composer Ricky Kej has once again lambasted Air India while claiming that he had to allegedly wait for nearly an hour over the payment of his excess baggage at the airport. In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), the Indian-American musician on Saturday shared two incidents with the airline, marking the fifth time in a year that he encountered issues with Air India.

“I am certain a few people will troll me, asking me why I keep doing this to myself… travel through such a terrible airline, but I will continuously give them chances and criticize them for errors, till they improve,” the three-time Grammy winner said on the social media platform.

First Incident

Describing the first incident, which he said took place on September 14 during his flight from Delhi to Bengaluru, Kej said, “I reached the Air India check in line at the Delhi Airport. Was flying business class. As always, the lady at the counter was distracted, had to get her attention.”

“I had not slept for 2 days and was travelling directly after performing a concert at the ITC Maurya. My bag was overweight by 6 kg, I immediately offered to pay, as I always do. They told me I need to go to a counter which was quite a walk away just to pay. I requested them to bring the wireless payment machine to the check in counter, like all the other airlines do (I routinely pay for excess baggage due to the nature of my profession),” the musician said.

“They refused (Devika, Ravi Kumar, Mukeeta & Neha). So, I walked to the counter they directed me to. The person at that counter (Sunil) refused to even look in my direction and rudely said he was busy – either I could wait there for a while or he directed me to their ticketing counter which is at the other end of the terminal. I refused both options and went back to the check in counter,” he claimed.

Further, Kej mentioned that “they told me there is nothing they could do and made a call to Sunil and told him to accept my payment.” “I made the walk back to Sunil (for a second time). I offered to pay by UPI. I did not have any credit cards or cash. He flatly refused UPI (Shocking for an Indian brand). He said UPI is useless and Air India does not accept it,” he said.

“I protested… told him that I have UPI attached with multiple banks and can ensure the payment goes through, he refused to talk to me further. I went back to the check-in counter. They told me there is nothing they could do and offered to cancel my ticket instead!! They refused to give me any details on a refund and gave me back my suitcase. Then I argued with them – told them I am sleep deprived, I need to be on the flight, and they are treating me like shit…” he said.

“Finally, after 50 min of this ordeal, and almost missing my flight, on my insistence, Devika called Sunil… he finally agreed to come to the check-in counter (where i was) with the wireless machine, and accepted the UPI payment which went through effortlessly in a few seconds. I left for security check and boarded the flight,” the music composer added.

The musician said that he personally felt that this is a “systemic issue” with Air India where they “just do not care” about their loyal customers.

“I have named all the offensive staff, and would really like to know how Air India deals with this issue I had. I should have never gone through that 50 min ordeal when they could have settled the payment within seconds. All the CCTV footage is surely available to Air India to verify this incident closely. This is a clear case of the airline bullying a customer,” he said.

Second Incident

Describing the second incident, Kej said he was flying from Mumbai to San Francisco on an Air India flight on September 20 when one of the attendants continuously turned off a blue light (call for service) turned on by the passengers.

“I was flying economy, a direct flight from Mumbai to San Francisco. Almost a 17-hour flight. I like to take walks on the plane every 3 hours. During one of my walks, I was standing at the back of the plane. In deep animated conversation were 2 female flight attendants and another woman in a pajama and t-shirt (I assume she was a flight attendant on a break, she was accessing the stowed away containers and shelves… even helping passengers who walked to her… giving them water, etc),” he wrote on X.

“A blue light was switched on by one of the passengers. One of the flight attendants saw the indicator, and very nonchalantly (while being seated on a makeshift chair made from trays) reached up to the touchscreen and turned off the blue light while not skipping a beat in the conversation. I was appalled but did not say anything,” he added.

“Then as expected, after a few minutes, the blue light was switched on again by the same passenger. Like clockwork, the same flight attendant turned off the light through the touch screen. I was now shocked that all three flight attendants were totally fine with this response and behaviour,” the Indian-American composer said.

“Now the blue light got switched on again by the exact same passenger for the 3rd time. This time I did not hold back. I told the flight attendant what she already knew, that the same passenger has called her for a third time… so maybe she could take a break from her conversation. She made a huge face, an under-the-breath remark and went to check on the passenger. I could not get the name of the flight attendant, because she was the only one not wearing a badge,” he highlighted.

“This shows the complete apathy that has for customers and as I said, it is a systemic issue that may take years to address. All 3 flight attendants did not care about passengers and 1 of them was partially on duty, accessing containers while not in uniform… she was obviously skipping her mandated rest. I am pretty sure there is CCTV footage for Air India to figure out the offending staff,” he said.

“I will continue to fly Air India though, and I am certain you will see more such stories… Hopefully lesser in frequency. My best wishes to Air India. I really, from the heart, hope they succeed. We all really need them to,” Kej added.

Air India Responds

The airline apologised for the inconvenience caused to the music composer. “Dear Sir, we sincerely regret the inconvenience experienced during your travel. We are thoroughly investigating the issue and will take appropriate action. Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” Air India said in a post on X.

The airline spokesperson also issued a statement over Kej’s experience.

“At Air India, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of customer service. We have taken the feedback seriously and will take corrective steps where necessary so that such incidents are not repeated. We regret the inconvenience caused to the customer and appreciate his support to the ongoing transformation of the airline. Such isolated incidents are not representative of the commitment of our staff towards service excellence,” he said.

Earlier incidents

Last month, he slammed Air India for downgrading him from business class and refusing to offer a refund.

He had shared his experience on X stating that he had booked and paid for a business class ticket from Mumbai to Bengaluru, only to be informed at the departure gate that he had been downgraded.

“Wow… 3rd time this is happening to me in one year. I booked and paid for a business-class ticket on Air India from Mumbai to Bengaluru. When I reach the departure gate, the staff rudely tells me that I have been downgraded (for no reason) and they cannot give me a refund. What’s up with Air India?” he had said in the post on X.