JULY 28, 2018

In my last Post, I had spoken about the transfer of Air-India’s art collection to the Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.

Since then, recent events and happenings in the airline have occupied my mind considerably and the question that is uppermost in my mind, is “What is happening to my Alma Mater?”.

The effort to sell the airline met with a deafening silence.  Not one bid was received and while there are many reasons for this, I do not wish to relate or expand upon, except to say that the entire process was flawed from the start.

If the Government is truly serious in privatizing the airline, it must start by looking  at the product that they wish to sell.

We have an airline with:

1. A massive debt.
2. Enormous annual net losses
3. Staff morale which could not get lower, but can and will only do so as time goes by if a proper solution to the airline’s problems is not found.
4. While the aircraft are airworthy, the condition of the interior of many has deteriorated to such an extent that canabalization is the norm and not the exception.

On top of that, during the past few days, there have been news items of Bed bugs on more than one Newark/Mumbai flight and that during June 2018, Air-India made the headlines for having the highest number of complaints among all Indian airlines.

And then, there was a weird article of a passenger relating how an air hostess  “leaned over and asked  almost conspiratorially “May I serve you your Muslim meal now?”

What, pray, is a “Muslim Meal”?

Thoughts of my Alma Mater brought back memories of the first day that I spent at the Air-India office on the 4th floor of the Bank of India building on M.G. Road in Bombay.

It was sometime in early January 1957 and I spent the entire day waiting to be interviewed.  Firstly, by the Senior panel which Mr. N. V.  Khote had convened and then by Mr. S. K. Kooka.  Mr. Kooka was busy the entire day and at around 4:00pm, I was asked by Mrs. Barbara Shivdasani, the receptionist, to come back the next morning.  I had spent most of the day smoking, reading magazines and looking at the dark wooden panelling.  If I concentrate, I can still breath the aroma that pervaded in that reception area. 

When I ran out of cigarettes,  Mrs. Shivdasani was kind enough to send out for another packet.  I have tried, but cannot remember which brand I used to smoke in those days; though later on, I had switched to Pall Mall.

Memories - yes, memories.  When I run out of writing about my working career, I think I should talk about my memories, both good and bad.  Hmmm.  Worth thinking about.

Some time ago, I believe AI had decided to showcase the airline’s art collection on a floor designated for this purpose in its iconic building at Nariman Point in Mumbai. It appears that Air-India’s management has now agreed to send this entire collection to the Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.

Even before I joined the airline in 1957, we had started to encourage budding artists and buying their works.  These were initially displayed in our offices but later it was decided to use them to decorate the homes of our overseas representatives and senior executives in Mumbai.  I remember the fair number of antique mantelpiece clocks that we had acquired - one of which was in my office on the 17th floor at Nariman Point.

Most of these articles were acquired during Jai Cowasji’s tenure and subsequently by Dhabaolkar and his successors.  

I hope the Ministry of Culture will honor this tremendous collection and display it for the public to view.  If not, it would be a tremendous waste of the great efforts that AI made to develop Indian art and artists.

Getting back to my tenure at Air Mauritius, in previous Posts, I have spoken about the difficulty in promoting Mauritius as a tourist destination to Americans.  I would like expand on this issue.

First, our studies showed that more than 95% of Americans had no idea where this country was.  Second, the Caribbean islands offered almost every attraction that Mauritius had to offer, with the exception of a culture which truly welcomed tourists. 

Third, it took 3 to 4 hours to fly from the east Coast to the Caribbean while travel to MRU required a two night flying time.  Fourth, we had practically no assistance from the MRU Tourist Department.

After trying various avenues and considering our limited financial resources, we decided that the most effective way to promote the country was to sell MRU as part of a two destination holiday and also special interest tours, such as honeymoons and deep sea fishing.  

MRU held an annual fishing tournament - the Marlin World Cup.  Our first attempt to send a few teams from the USA did meet with some success, but nature did not help.  MRU experienced a cyclone at that particular time and we had a few cancellations.

Nonetheless, we persevered and found that there was definitely genuine interest for this sport in the USA.  Manju and I were invited to attend a similar tournament in St. Thomas and we found considerable enthusiasm.  Unfortunately, this enthusiasm was not matched at the other end.  The powers that be in MRU flatly told me that they had enough teams from Europe and other countries and did not need more that 1 or 2 from the USA.

We then ran into an major problem - difficulty in getting seats on MK flights.  The European stations had allocations on all flights which they held on to for dear life and last minute releases were no help for us.  During a Sales Conference in MRU, I spent some time trying to cultivate better relations with the Reservations Manager and his staff.

Little did I realize the competition that we faced.  Each afternoon, one or another European station held a “get together” for the Res. staff.  They had brought in Champagne, wine and other “goodies” such as Belgian chocolates and gifts.  The Sales Manager from Zurich told me in confidence that I could not hope to match the generosity of Mr. Dastur.

Nonetheless, I was able to establish a personal relationship with the Reservations Manager and we did manage to get some seats by contacting him directly on each occasion.

The CMD mentioned to me that perhaps, I should emulate the efforts of Tord  Magnusson, the Sales Manager in Sweden who was sending a large number of Hi-yield clients.  He told me to meet with Tord and “get some tips”.  Tord introduced me to his Tour Operator who had a branch office in Florida.  This gentleman stated that Florida had a substantial affluent population which, he felt, would certainly be interested in traveling to an exclusive destination such as MRU.

Despite my personal misgivings, I gave this project a good try.  First, we hosted a team of journalists who published a four page article in Town & Country, an upscale travel magazine.  We then sent reprints of this article to a mailing list that this Tour Operator maintained.

Second, we held a Reception for about 75-80 well heeled residents of Palm Beach County.  

Guess what - we did not get a single client from this effort!!!

So, I went back to well tried efforts and renewed our efforts by participating in selective Trade Shows and pursuing personal ties with Tour Operators promoting South Africa.  I attended two INDABA Trade shows in Durban and developed contacts with both U.S. Tour Operators and local Ground operators.  

MK became a member of the USTOA and we did attained a few annual meetings, but soon realized that with our limited financial resources, we would be better off in one-to-one meetings with the few Tour Operators who promoted African Safaris. We did meet with some success and were fortunate in meeting our annual targets.

In my last Post, I spoke about issues in Canada.  I soon found that I had another problem in my own office in New Jersey (NJ).  My Sales Manager (Azhar Zaidi) started imbibing liquor during office hours and when I confronted him, he confessed that he was under a heavy strain as his daughter and son-in-law were having marital problems.  I spent many hours trying to talk sense to him, but I did not appear to be making much headway.

Eventually, I had to read the “riot act” to him and gave him 6 months to resolve his personal problems.  The 6 month period stretched to an year and doing this period, I ran into a major problem. 

An Indian Travel agent told me that he had heard a rumor that there was a batch of MK tickets being hawked in the market.  My investigations confirmed that a batch of 100 tickets had indeed been issued by an unscrupulous agent in NYC.  I immediately informed our H.O. in MRU to keep a lookout for any of these tickets if they surfaced in interline billing.

The tickets did surface but our Accounts Department bungled the follow up and it was only after 6 months that I learnt the facts.  Both of my staff had conspired to steal these documents and I terminated their services and initiated a Police Case against them.  The Res/Tktg staff confessed after the police had him in custody for a few hours and agreed to pay back half the loss that MK had incurred. 

While he implicated Azhar Zaidi as an accomplice, the Police did not have a strong enough case against him.

Azhar Zaidi, in the meantime, sent a letter to MK’s Commercial Director in which he stated that Mr. Sethi hardly attended office as he was playing golf most of the week and that he (Zaidi) was putting in considerable overtime and generating traffic for MK.  As such, Mr. Sethi’s services should be terminated and he (Zaidi) should be given the post of G.M. - USA and Latin America.

I happened to visit MRU soon thereafter and was shown this letter and instructed to terminate Mr. Zaidi’s services upon my return, which we did.

In turn, Azhar Zaidi filed a law suit against me with the Equal Opportunities Employment Commission on grounds of racial discrimination.  Needless to state, we had no problem convincing the Commission that he had no valid case.

MK - USA was now a one man office and my wife pitched in whenever I needed help to run errands and man the phones while I had to go to meetings.

With the peak winter season on our heads, I took the decision to offer Francisco Rebelledo a full time assignment as Sales Manager, USA and to come from LAX to NJ.  He accepted and shortly after, we recruited Lucy Barahona as our new Res/Tktg. agent and were back to being a fully staffed office.  However, we did lose our representation on the west coast which had a detrimental effect on our revenues.

I thought that I had had enough excitement by this time and was hoping that matters would henceforth proceed smoothly.  Unfortunately, Francisco Rebelledo and his family were having difficulties in settling down in New Jersey.  His wife, Josephine, who was Spanish had married Francisco in Spain and moved to Los Angeles.  She found the winter in NJ very harsh and difficult.  On top of that, their house was burgled and they lost a great deal of their valuables and momentos. 

Very reluctantly, Francisco decided to move back to Chile, his country of birth and so, put in his resignation.  I was very saddened to see him go, as he was not only a very enthusiastic individual, but also very personable and a very dependable member of the team. 

As an aside, I should mention that eventually, Francisco came back to the USA and I next met him when he came for the staff gathering on the occasion of my retirement from MK in 1999.  He was by that time, working for Continental Airlines in Puerto Rico and also arranged a short holiday for Manju and me after my retirement.

Francisco is still in touch with me and occasionally I get emails from him, plus the annual Christmas greetings. 

I was now looking for a replacement for the post of Sales Manager and our PR & Advt. Consultant, Bob Desley, recommended William (Bill) Pankow who had worked as the NYC Sales Manager at Kuwait Airways when I was their Regional Head.  Bill was, at that time, with Pakistan International Airlines in a mid-level backroom capacity and happily jumped at the opportunity to “get back” into active selling of air travel.

We finally had a team and were back in business.

Early morning one day when I was having breakfast, Harry Tiruvengadum, our CMD called and asked if I was aware that the Mauritius Prime Minister was traveling to Colombia to attend the Non-Aligned Summit in Cartagena.  I replied in the affirmative adding that we had only the day before, we had managed to get confirmation of his wait-list reservation on one pending leg of his journey.

Harry then asked if could I meet the P.M. and his wife during their transit in Bogota enroute to Cartagena?  I was surprised since the transit was only for 5 hours and told Harry that I had already checked and was informed that the P.M. would not be leaving the airport and that he was being met by the Chief Protocol Officer of the Colombian Government and escorted to a VIP area in the terminal.

He came back and asked me to please do this as a personal favor to him.  The P.M. had heard rather disturbing reports of insecurity in Colombia and specially requested that “Mr. Sethi meet him during his transit”.  So, off Manju and I went to Bogota.

On arrival, I met the airport Manager of Avianca, the national airline and he offered all courtesies and asked me to meet him an hour before arrival of the P.M.s flight. He introduced me to the Chief Protocol Officer and when the flight landed, I was at the gate with them.  We met the P.M. and Mrs. Jugnauth and I took from him, their baggage tags.

The Avianca Airport Manager and I then went and retagged their baggage and then loaded it in the hold of the smaller aircraft from Bogota to Cartagena.  I then proceeded to the VIP area where I spent the next few hours with the P.M. and his wife, both of whom I had met and spent almost a week with when they visited Washington, DC and the Boeing factory in Seattle.

It was a very pleasant meeting during which I was introduced to the Heads of the Governments of Madagascar and Comores, who were also proceeding to Cartagena on the same flight.

I thought that was the end of the matter, until the P.M. sprang a surprise just before they boarded their flight by asking me if “Could you please meet us in Miami while we are in transit from Cartagena to New York?”

And so, soon after returning to NJ from Colombia, I found myself in Miami where I met the American Airlines airport Manager and managed to secure a secluded corner in their Ambassador Lounge.  I was having a well deserved cup of coffee when I heard an announcement asking “would Mr. Sethi of Air Mauritius please contact the American Airlines agent at check-in?”

I proceeded there accordingly and found two employees of the U.S. Secret Service who informed me in a most officious manner that I should point out the Mauritius P.M. and his wife as they disembarked.  The Secret service would take over at that time and the two would be escorted to a VIP area.  After they had been settled, I would then be taken to that room.

I said OK and stated that I would take their baggage tags and ensure that their baggage was properly retagged to their destination (JFK).  They were astounded by this suggestion and stated that the Secret Service had decades of experience handling Heads of States and knew all protocols and handling procedures.  In other words - keep your hands off!!!

So, I was escorted to the VIP area  where I renewed my acquaintance with Sir Anoorad and Mrs. Jugnauth and sat with them.  Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and one of the Secret Service staff asked if I could meet him and his colleagues outside the VIP room.  I did and was told “We made a boo boo.  Their baggage was tagged to La Guardia and we have just realized that they are flying to J F Kennedy airport.  Can you help us out”.

By this time, I had had enough and tore into both of them.  What happened to the decades of experience that you boasted about, I asked?  I have half a mind to report your inefficiency to Secretary of the Treasury, I stated.  I then took the baggage tags from them and called Bill Pankow at the MK office.  I read out the tag numbers to him and requested him to go to LGA , pick up the bags and deliver them to the Waldorf Astoria where the P.M. and his wife were staying.

There was no further incident and I traveled on the same flight with the P.M. and on arrival at JFK, handed over the VVIPs to the Mauritian Ambassador who met us in the terminal.  The Ambassador asked if I was coming to the hotel and I said to him - sorry, I am now going home.  They are all yours.

I took leave of the P.M. and Mrs. Jugnauth who were most gracious and effusive in thanking me for all my patience and consideration.

On my next visit to MRU, I related the entire set of incidents to the CMD who apologized for all the travels I had to undertake but stated that the P.M. had specially asked for me by name as he was quite impressed by how their earlier trip to the USA in 1988 had been handled.