[cortlander]

On Mar 11th I took a return flight on Air India flight 191 from Mumbai to Newark. My original return date was Feb 17th, and then I had to keep pushing back two or three times.

The first time I called Air India for a change in booking, I was told that while the change fee was $125, with which I had no issue, the "class" in which I was travelling was full and I would have to upgrade to a higher fare (which would still be coach). I tried several different dates, and not once was my class available. So I made the booking any way as there was no other choice.

A few days later I had to change date again, and once again despite trying several dates, nothing in the same class was available, and the only way to change the date was to fly at a higher fare.

I ended up paying $125 change penalty, plus $233 fare difference i.e. $358 to fly back on a different date than the one I had originally bought.

This is a sham. If Air India wants to charge a higher fee for changing dates, it should be up front about it and tell us what it would really cost when we purchase the ticket instead of coming up with these bogus class full excuses.