About 100 Thai pilgrims, both lay people and monks, have been abandoned in the Buddhist city of Bodh Gaya in northern India because of poor service and negligence by Indian Airlines, the Thai consul in Calcutta alleged yesterday.

Consul Thatree Chauvachata said he was contacted two weeks ago by the Thai pilgrims. They claimed their return tickets on an Indian Airlines direct flight from the sacred city to Bangkok were cancelled without prior notice.

"I contacted the airline office in Calcutta and was only informed that the [seasonal] flight [service] had been ended on March 26, but, the Thai tourists had not been informed in advance," he said, in a telephone interview.

Thatree said he was "dissatisfied" with the way the airline had treated the Thai pilgrims as the return date to Bangkok of many of the passengers was shown on their tickets as April.

"I learned from the sales department that they too had not been informed by the operations department [about the final flight]," he said.

Teerawat Namdoung, a pilgrim who managed to get a direct flight back to Bangkok from Bodh Gaya, with help from the consulate, said news about the cancelled flights spread quickly among the Thai pilgrims after some tried to confirm their return tickets.

The airline had asked passengers to travel by road from Bodh Gaya to Calcutta - about 500 km - to take a flight back to Bangkok, he said. Some passengers, mostly members of group tours, decided to take the nine-hour bus ride while others went by train, which took 12 hours.

Teerawat and about 90 others, including monks and novices, insisted on the airline flying them direct from Bodh Gaya, as they had already paid for their tickets.

"Actually, I could have detoured to Calcutta had the airline issued me with an official letter confirming that they would be responsible for all expenses. The letter would also have ensured that I would receive proper services had I taken the road trip," he said.

After receiving the complaints, Consul Thatree flew twice to Bodh Gaya to try to sort out the problem.

"My stand was simple. They had paid for a direct flight and therefore they had to go back on a direct flight," he said.

After eight days of negotiations, the airline eventually provided a special flight to take the Thais home on April 4. Many of them, including Teerawat, whose return flight was scheduled for after April 4, had to shorten their trips.

Thatree said he had learned after returning to Calcutta on Sunday that many Thais were still stuck in Bodh Gaya.

Suthee Singh, a sales representative for Indian Airlines in Bangkok, said the airline had not meant to abandon the passengers. "We could not contact them since they did not give us their local contact," he said.

Suthee admitted the problem occurred every year as the airline normally closed the route from about the end of March until October, when it is the low season for Bodh Gaya. But he was unable to say why the airline had issued tickets for April.

Kalpana Chaudhary, the general manager of Indian Airlines in Bangkok, was not available for comment on Wednesday.

Thatree said he would submit a report to the Foreign Ministry about the Thai pilgrims being abandoned by Indian Airlines.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation