CNN-IBN responds to Air Deccan

CNN-IBN Correspondent Ruksh Chatterji replies to Ms Vijaya Menon, Head of Corporate Communications, Air Deccan, regarding the company’s allegations against story. Below is his detailed response to the issues raised in the above-mentioned email.

At the outset let me clarify, the aim of this story was not to deliberately malign, target or purposely damage the reputation of Air Deccan.

The three stories aired on CNN-IBN were the result of an investigation, which lasted over one-and-a-half months beginning on January 29, 2007. The investigation was undertaken following complaints from passengers on the flight DN763, on the above-mentioned date.

The stories were not motivated by any other reasons but to verify the complaints by the passengers and expose any malpractices, deliberate or otherwise, by your airline. Whether a story is positive or negative is purely based on the perspective of the viewer, however in this matter I would like to state that the story is factual in every respect.

A lot of effort has been taken to check and crosscheck facts before it made it to the story. The Documentary / Video / Oral Evidence used in the story is listed here:

Copy of Manifest: This is a copy of the manifest submitted to the Airports Authority of India, Bangalore for the calculation of the PSF. This document is meant to be a sacrosanct piece of paper, but clearly isn't, as is amply demonstrated by the several different versions being circulated by your airline.

• Copy of Manifest given to AAI, Bangalore should be the checked-in manifest. But as has been mentioned by you clearly there are different versions being generated by your computers for different purposes. As per DGCA sources there should be only one version of the manifest, therefore if you say, “the copy in CNN-IBN's possession is inappropriate”, kindly explain.
• The Aircraft (Flight DN763, January 29, 2007, Departing 5:55 AM (0555 hrs IST), from Bangalore) carried a different manifest on board, which had 180 passengers (On the list, and on-board the aircraft). This has been verified by the AAI Official (at Bombay) who was alerted on January 29, and checked the Manifest on board that day. The Manifest in CNN-IBN's was shown to the official and he stated, "This was the very same document except that day the list ended at 180". (As per Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession 175 Passengers - 5 " No Shows"= 170)
• The AAI official (in Mumbai) who had been alerted from Bangalore, actually went down to the tarmac with another colleague. Both of them positioned themselves at the ladder (Front and Rear) and counted a total of 186 people get off the plane. (180 passengers + six crew)
• The Air Deccan Staff on board the aircraft, on January 29 also confirmed to the AAI official that the flight was carrying a full load.

Document 1: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

Document 2: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

Document 3: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

Document 4: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

Document 5: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

Tickets/ Refund Receipts: of "No-Show" passengers who were not allowed to board the said flight on January 29, 2007

Document 6: Scanned Copy of Manifest in CNN-IBN's possession.

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Mobile Phone Video Recordings: ( As seen in the story)

• Shot by Prashant Jotawar, a "No Show" Passenger on the February 11, 2007, for Flight DN763
• Shot by Manish Joshi, a "No Show" Passenger on February 14, 2007, for Flight DN763

On Camera Interviews/ Sound bites & Documents: (On various facets of the story)

Passengers:

Air Deccan Official: MD, Air Deccan, Capt G R Gopinath, in response to the allegations made against Air Deccan.

Hidden Camera Interviews of AAI officials in Bangalore and Mumbai (Without the Prior Knowledge of the Interviewees)

This was a last resort, as AAI refused to officially grant permission to interview the concerned Officers. Their faces had to be masked to protect their identity

(Not that this precaution has prevented these upright officers who went beyond the call of their duty to cross check and report a malpractice by your airline, from being harassed)

As a journalist I have a right to protect my sources. (However in the event of an independent inquiry, I shall be glad to share the uncut and unmasked footage of the same. The Officers concerned will undoubtedly be glad to themselves speak up in any independent inquiry).

Overbooking: Air Deccan overbooked it's flight DN 763 on January 29, 2007, departing from Bangalore at 5:55 AM (0555 hrs IST)

The following evidence substantiates this:

• Interview of Louie Mathew: Clearly stating that there were about 15 passengers left as "No-Shows"
• Interviews of Shradha Lapasiya & Rituparna Bose: Stating that despite requests to open the other vacant counter, Air Deccan staff refused to do so. It appeared the Staff was attempting to maximize the number of " No- Shows"
• Hidden Cam interview of AAI official (Mumbai) stating that he counted a 180 passengers get off the plane.
• Hidden Cam Sound-bite of AAI official (Mumbai) stating that he spoke to Air Deccan staff on board DN763 on January 29 and they confirmed that the flight was full

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Thus: Full Flight + Stranded "No Show" Passengers = Overbooking (To put it succinctly!)

(Please Note: Sources at your Booking Engine: Interglobe Technologies' Headquarters in Gurgaon, say, that though the software is originally designed not to over book, there are ways of doing it.

• There is a Manual intervention / override given to Air Deccan officials, which has been repeatedly abused over the last two months.
• The only way an overbooking is achieved is if the type of aircraft is deliberately mis-fed into the software.
• Thus on a route with an Airbus A320, the type of aircraft is changed to a 747-800 temporarily (Only to fool the software) (Reason Code: Temp Equipment change due to XYZ)
• Once the bookings go to about 10 - 15 per cent over. The air craft type is changed back to A-320, without anyone suspecting anything.)

Also Note: On March 24, DN718 from Trivandrum to Delhi via Chennai was delayed.

Reason: Overbooked by 10 passengers.

Do you want me to produce a Citizen journalist Video for the same? Is this also " Systems Error / Migration Problems"?

Regarding Dates 11, 14 and 27 February: Please take a closer look at the story once again, nowhere does the story state that the flights was overbooked. (I could not get hard evidence of the same hence, did not include this aspect in the report)

What the story does state is: Passengers were deliberately declared "No Shows" on the above-mentioned dates.

• Shot by Prashant Jotawar, a "No Show" Passenger on February 11, 2007, for Flight DN763
• Shot by Manish Joshi, a "No Show" Passenger on February 14, 2007, for Flight DN763

b) What the story does state is: There is a deliberate attempt on behalf of the Air Deccan staff to make the check in procedure "Go Slow"

Substantiating evidence (as seen in the Story) Hidden Cam Self Evident Footage:

• Long lines at Air Deccan counters
• Air Deccan Staff refusing to open other vacant counters to hasten Check-in
• The arbitrary methods of writing reporting times on peoples tickets
• Counters being closed despite a long line of people at the counter waiting to be given their boarding pass
• People begging to be given a barding pass after having waited close to 30 minutes
• Hidden Camera sound-bite of the Bangalore Airport Manager, Mr Laxman, stating "They write a reporting time within half an hour and declare you as late. Air Deccan has been doing this."
• Hidden Camera Bite of AAI official at Bangalore stating that " Air Deccan purposely slows down the check -in procedure, because they are overbooking."
• Having Witnessed "Operation Go Slow" as a passenger (armed with a Hidden Camera) , further substantiated by the two above testimonies of officers who see the same procedure repeated routinely, it is the only logical conclusion that these passengers were deliberately being off-loaded in an unethical manner which can only be termed as a " scam".

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Under-Reporting: On January 29, 2007, Air Deccan, Under-Reported the number of Passengers on board its Flight DN763 from Bangalore ot Mumbai.

• Passengers Reported to Bangalore ATC: 161 ( POB number 161)
• Substantiating Evidence: Hidden Cam interview of Bangalore AAI Official at Bangalore stating the same.
• On Paper : 170 Passengers on Board. ( Copy of manifest attached for your kind Perusal)
• Actual Passengers on Board: 180 Substantiating evidence: Hidden Camera Interview with AAI official at Mumbai stating he counted and confirmed with Air Deccan Staff a 180 Passengers on board.

Thus simply put :

Under Reporting, Persons on Board, in a clear case of Violation of DGCA and International Aviation norms!

(Please Note: This Gross Violation of Aviation norms also occurred on 13th February 2007 on DN763. The Bangalore Airport Manager has made a complaint and the AAI has begun an internal inquiry into the matter. According to sources: Air Deccan reported 115 Passengers on Board to ATC. Persons on board in the Manifest is 143. (I did not use this case study in the story as I could not get hard evidence to substantiate the claim).

If I do manage to get hold of the papers I shall intimate you at the earliest.

Flight manifest showing the same passenger twice: (was it Mr Haridasan ??.) Yes, the passenger was Pranav Haridasan. He had earlier booked a ticket through a travel agent (Not an internet booking as stated by you in the email) and then had it cancelled (Which obviously did not reflect). Pranav later did an Internet booking.

When Pranav got to the airport he was surprised to find two seats booked in his name!

(Please note: The Phone number of Pranav has a 'Zero' prefixed. This is because most DBMS software’s treat phone numbers as unique fields, and the zero was probably deliberately put there to cheat the software. To avoid basic problems like these, the software can simply be re-programmed to ignore the pre-fixes like '0' and '+91' to avoid re-booking.)

In conclusion:

I stand by the three investigative stories I have done. Which prove the following:

• Air Deccan over booked the number of Passengers for its flight DN763, on January 29, 2007.
• Air Deccan closed the check-in counter for flight DN763 and declared several passengers who had come well in time on February 11, 14, 27, 2007.
• The Air Deccan staff at the Bangalore Airport attempted to slow down the check -in procedure for DN763 to maximise the number of "No Shows"
• Air Deccan under-reported the number of Passengers on Board its flight DN763 on January 29, 2007.

My final Statement:

I just heard a sound-bite of Capt. G R Gopinath, asking for a probe " Into whether the reporter concerned (ie: Ruksh Chatterji) was 'bribed' by one of the competing airlines to do these stories."

I would just like to state, that I have in my past career maintained the highest ethical standards, and carry out my duties in the true spirit of the profession I have chosen. The standards I have applied to these stories are no different and are in keeping with the ethical values of the company I represent. However if Capt. Gopinath has doubts over my character and motivations, I am open to being investigated by an agency of his choice.

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Ruksh Chatterji

Special Correspondent

CNN-IBN, Mumbai