Air India staff refuse to accept defunct notes

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, has been accused of refusing and accepting junked notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations, depending on the whims and fancies of its staff here. 

This came to light when the Air India city office staff refused to accept the now-defunct high denomination notes from a Chicago-based NRI, Krishan Lal Agarwal, who is nowadays on a vacation at his native place here, for rescheduling his flight while his junked currency was accepted for the payment of seat preference charges at the same time.

“I went to the local office of Air India in Sector 34 here yesterday for rescheduling my Delhi-Chicago flight from November 22 to December 11, for which I was asked to pay US $250 (Rs 16,980 Indian currency),” Agarwal told The Tribune, here today.

He said since he had been in Chandigarh before the announcement of demonetisation, he was in possession of the now-defunct Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, which the Air India office staff had refused to accept. “I was asked to bring the new currency, which was a big challenge for me,” he revealed.

Agarwal said he, somehow, arranged the new currency from his friends to pay the charges. “But I was shocked when another customer came in front of me and paid the amount in old currency,” the NRI, who has been settled in US for the last four decades, lamented.

When Agarwal questioned the Air India staff about this, they accepted the old currency from him for the seat preference charges amounting to Rs 3,500.

“This is a real scam. They are accepting and refusing the old currency at their own discretion,” Agarwal alleged, while shooting off a formal complaint to the Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani in this regard.

When contacted, Air India local station manager, MR Jindal, admitted lapse on the part of his office staff in accepting and refusing junked currency from the same passenger at the same time. “Actually, we are supposed to accept the old currency at the airport counter only and not at the city office,” he reasoned, while adding that Agarwal’s new currency transaction was shown at the city office while the old currency transaction was shown at the airport. Jindal also maintained that the old currency from another passenger, who came in front of Agarwal, was shown at the airport.