It was a strategic or a technical fault, but it bought my way back home...

I was visiting the Andaman in December 2014, with parents, and had booked a both way economy combo flight from SpiceJet. SG 104, and SG 105, were the scheduled to and fro flights on 12th and 17th, respectively. Incidentally, SpiceJet had run into a fuel crisis during this period resulting a lot of rescheduling and cancellations. In spite of agitations, we decided to pursue the trip plan as these two flights were still plying on schedule. But just like it turns out, the return flight was cancelled, on 16th, a day before departure, and when we were already in Port Blair.

I rushed to Port Blair airport, early on 17th morning, to find out people waiting for rescheduling for cancelled flights the day before. Till that point, SpiceJet was assuring rescheduling of booked departures, but soon they announced their inability to provide alternate means. Sensing trouble, with great help from SB, 3 seats were booked in Jet Airways, with a price almost double. Only a few seats were left, and soon fares soared up to 5-6 times the usual.

At the time of boarding Jet Airways, another shock was awaiting. The Jet Airways flight booked was actually a rescheduled one, in place of another cancelled the day before. Accordingly, no further booking was to be performed, it was planned to carry only rescheduled passengers of Jet Airways. Due to a technical glitch, the booking window to this flight was open for a limited time to online booking sites like Yatra, MakeMyTrip, etc., and some 10-12 passengers, including us, availed this window.

The rescheduled flight was already full and could not accommodate us. However, acknowledging their fault, Jet Airways transferred the booking to another of their regular flights on the same day. I don't know how they managed these 10-12 seats in midst of this rush, but what I know that, a strategic or software glitch bought my way back home the same day, which was otherwise impossible from a place like Port Blair.