Challenging Situation at Chennai Airport While Returning to Japan

One of the challenging situations that I had faced was at the Chennai Airport. I was traveling to Japan with my family and mother. We took a domestic flight from Kochi, Kerala, to reach Chennai Airport, from where we needed to board Singapore Airlines.

I handed over the copies of our flight tickets and passports of all my family members to the airline staff after a long wait in the queue to get the boarding passes. After examining, the staff asked me to show the copy of the credit card by which I had booked the flights.

I used the support of one of my colleagues from Singapore to book the flight tickets. He used his credit card to book the flight tickets on Singapore Airlines for me. My colleague had cautioned me about the importance of carrying a printout of the copy of his credit card when traveling. I did not carry the copy of his credit card, and the staff informed me to bring the copy in order to travel on Singapore Airlines.

I tried to appeal by saying that the Singapore Airlines staff did not insist on such a document when I traveled from Japan to India. The staff showed me the remarks at the bottom of the tickets stating the importance of carrying a copy of the credit card if the booking was done through another person’s credit card.

It was almost certain that we needed to postpone the travel to another date until I get the copy of the credit card from my colleague. We moved out of the queue so that other passengers could proceed smoothly. After a minute’s pondering, I decided to call one of my old friends in Chennai and seek his help. I called and explained to him the situation. He told me to keep cool, and since the General Manager of Singapore Airlines’ Chennai office was his friend, he would try to make an appeal for my case.

When I was waiting for my friend’s call, a lady staff member appeared on the scene. She was talking to someone on her mobile. When she approached us, she extended her hands for a handshake and asked if my name was Jayaprakash, to which I said yes. Then she handed over her phone to me and told me to talk to the person on the other end. The voice at the other end introduced herself as the General Manager of Singapore Airlines. She said she talked with my friend in Chennai, and based on that verification method, she has requested her staff in the Chennai airport to issue boarding passes. She wished us safe, pleasant travel back to Japan but advised us to book the flight tickets with our own credit cards as much as possible.

We traveled back to Japan thanking my friend in Chennai and also the general manager of Singapore Airlines.

Lessons I learned from that experience:

1. Pay attention to each and every detail, however small it is. I did not take seriously the instructions given at the bottom of the flight ticket.

2. Use your own credit card for booking the tickets. If a credit card is not available, then take a physical copy of the authorization letter from the person whose credit card is used for booking.

3. Move a bit away from the problem and think about a solution. While staying in the middle of the problem, we may not be able to think about a solution.