Man claimed that the passenger lost his luggage amid the Crowdstrike outage. (Representational)
A man lost his checked-in suitcase with items worth Rs 45,000 on an Indigo Airlines flight recently. Monik Sharma took an IndiGo flight from Kolkata to Guwahati but his luggage was misplaced by the airline.
To make matters worse, the carrier then handed him a compensation of just Rs 2,450 for his loss. The incident was shared on X by Mr Sharma's friend, Ravi Handa. He claimed Mr Sharma lost his checked-in luggage amid the Crowdstrike outage, which affected airline and airport operations on a massive scale.
In addition, he revealed that valuable papers such as an Aadhar, PAN, and driver's license were in the bag, along with goods valued at Rs 45,000.
An excerpt of his post read, "The bag had stuff worth 45k in it along with important papers like Driving License, PAN, Aadhar, etc. It was checked in at Kolkata airport. It never reached Guwahati. How can it vanish mid-air? Was the plane leaking bags? Around a month later - Indigo has come back offering "compensation" of ₹2450. It is ridiculous. Just the bag would cost more than that."
The post sparked a discussion on social media about what we must and must not keep in checked-in luggage. One user said, "The airlines ask you not to keep any valuables (cash and jewellery especially) in the checked-in luggage. Even important documentation like DL, PAN etc. Even a consumer court can't help here, move on."
Another added, "Credit cards have baggage loss insurance. PS: as a thumb rule, don't put anything valuable in the check-in bag. Anyone can open your bag anytime during transit and no one is liable for anything missing in your bag."
A third comment read, "I think such luggage mishandling happened during Microsoft blue screen event. IndiGo is the second largest airline in the world by market capitalisation and such things are least expected from it."
Some users shared alternative solutions to the problem and asked Handa to demand more compensation from the airline. A user suggested, "₹350 per kg is for cargo. For loss, delay or damage to baggage on domestic flights the max liability is ₹20K per passenger. Refer to page 8 of the DGCA Passenger Charter."
Another agreed and said, "Indigo was not being truthful there, 350/kg is the liability for cargo, not baggage."
Ravi Handa also appealed to IndiGo's social media account and requested help from his friend Monik Sharma. An image of his boarding pass was also shared by him. Even though the luggage has not been found, the user claimed to have received a call from IndiGo's social media team, who reassured him that the issue would be looked into further.