Jauhar Hashmi. (Pabitra Das)

I’m at the Air India lost luggage dept. I have been at this office since 1.30pm, I need your help. At exactly 4.30pm this office will close for the weekend. The person in this office has threatened to lock me up in this office. I need your help. My luggage has been missing for 7 days. Nobody here wants to help or assist me. Jauhar

American Jauhar Hashmi, 55, sent this SOS to Metro from his BlackBerry at 3.31pm on Saturday from the Air India office at Calcutta airport, where he had gone to enquire about a registered bag missing since his arrival last Monday.

Jauhar, who had taken an Air India flight (AI 680) from Delhi, said: “I had six bags with me. But I couldn’t locate one duffel bag though I stayed at the airport till 1.45am on Tuesday.”

If not getting back the bag — containing medicines, food items and some important documents — wasn’t enough trouble for Jauhar, a woman employee of Air India allegedly threatened to lock him up in the lost luggage department and leave if he insisted on staying put there.

Jauhar had told airline officials on Saturday that he wouldn’t leave their office till they gave him a satisfactory explanation for failing to trace his bag.

Jauhar needs the bag mainly for the medicines. “I have had multiple spine surgeries and am on medication. My medicines are all in that bag. There are also some clothes, protein bars and sugar-free snack bars, which I need because of my restricted diet,” said Jauhar, who is in the city to meet his mother.

So does he think the bag was put on the wrong flight or stolen?

Jauhar said he had no idea whether the baggage went missing in Delhi or in Calcutta.

Air India officials declined comment on Jauhar’s allegation about being threatened, but did promise to try their best to trace the lost bag. “Some infrastructure problems in terminal 3 of Delhi airport has led to a surge in complaints from passengers about misplaced baggage,” said a senior Air India official.

Although luggage being misplaced is not a new trend, complaints about missing bags have been piling up at Calcutta airport despite airlines claiming improvement in services. “On an average, we receive two complaints every day, which wasn’t the case five years ago,” said a senior airport official.

Aviation norms stipulate that airlines compensate passengers for missing luggage if these are not traced within a week, but most passengers encounter apathy like Jauhar has allegedly been facing since Monday.

On being unable to locate his bag, Air India officials had given Jauhar, a form to fill with details about the contents of the bag.

“I was also given a phone number. Over the last few days I have called the number close to 100 times. Only once did an Air India official take my call,” complained the American citizen, who did his schooling in the city.

Have you ever been threatened for lodging a complaint against an airline?

Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com