Even as the state-run carrier celebrated ?Air India Day? on Wednesday with a promotional Rs 100 fare offer, its online booking website crashed within minutes of the announcement causing disappointment for the many hopeful passengers eyeing a good deal and the Air India website’s service is still unavailable on Thursday.
Air India had announced discounted tickets offer for Rs 100 for a limited period to celebrate its merger with erstwhile Indian Airlines. Under the ‘Air India Offer’ ? a scheme offering tickets for Rs 100 apart from all applicable taxes ? tickets are being sold through the airline?s website exclusively for five days from August 27 to 31 for travel between August 27 and September 30 this year.
However, after few hours of the announcement of the offer, customers started facing problem in accessing Air India website with messages such as ‘service unavailable’ page.
“Air India expresses its sincerest apology to customers who tried to access our website during the last few hours. We are experiencing some technical problem with our servers and doing everything to minimise the amount of time necessary to restore our website,” the airline posted on its Facebook page.
“Once again, we are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused to our customers,” Air India said.
This comes after the civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapthi Raju earlier this month gave a three-year time-frame to the Air India management for a turnaround in profitability alongside a 26-point guideline to improve services. Incidentally, one of the points made by the minister said that the ?Air India website should be professionally managed and functional on a 24X7 basis. The website should be considered for integration with other leading travel organisations for ensuring greater marketability.?
