Virgin Atlantic Fails to Hand Over Check-in Bags to Flyers

MUMBAI: As British actor Jade Goody – known more as Shilpa Shetty’s tormentor – and most other passengers got off from the Virgin Atlantic Flight 350 in Mumbai, they were carrying only their handbags. Their check-in bags were not handed over to them by the airlines.

What made the situation outside the customs counter even worse was that no airlines officials were around to help the passengers fill the baggage-claim forms. To top it all, when the assistance did arrive, the airlines ran short of forms, leaving the commuters angry and dismayed.

“There was nobody to assist us,” said Rupen Patel, a passenger. “Those who were supposed to go to Pune from Mumbai, were left in a lurch. We were told that there was some problem with the conveyor belt and that our bags would arrive in a couple of days,” he added. “Jade Goody got her first taste of India just as she arrived here,” said a senior member of the film industry when told about the actress losing her baggage.

As for Goody herself, she may have grabbed media attention with her racist remarks against Shilpa Shetty, she’s still a non-entity for the average Indian.

Observing the cameras following Goody at Mumbai airport as she arrived from London on Friday to participate in the TV reality show, Indian Big Brother, a quizzical passenger wondered if “she was Michael Jackson’s sister”.

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