Long-haul travel from India to USA, and that too with an international layover, is overwhelming for first-time travelers. The very thought of navigating big airports, sitting buckled up for hours, transit in a third country, stepping into a different time zone…evokes fears and anxiety to the extent of pressing the panic button. On top of that, language barriers intensify the fear of flying alone, especially in non-English-speaking elderly travelers from India.
The above sums up Ramana Jalluri’s Reddit post wherein he poured out his apprehensions about his sexagenarian mother’s first international trip to the US: “Amma in her 60s would be flying to USA via London all alone for the first time. She can’t speak Hindi or English other than Telugu. How would she navigate the bustling terminal during her transit at London Heathrow? She may miss the connecting flight as she won’t be able to understand the wayfinding signage or announcements in English. What if anything goes wrong…”
His post resonated with many Indians in USA, among the Reddit users, who have had the same feeling about their elderly parents’ first solo flight. Contrary to Ramana’s anxiety, his mother had a comfortable journey, a safe flight, a pleasant experience – she flew from Hyderabad to Dallas, Texas smoothly. Before booking her flight tickets to Dallas, he tried to find a fellow traveler having the same itinerary as hers. He even reached out to online communities and groups, but his efforts bore no fruit.
“While googling for special airport service for senior citizens, Ramana Jalluri came across Travel Beats, Indian Eagle’s in-house travel magazine for Indian Diaspora. Our article on British Airways’ in-person airport assistance in Indian languages caught his notice. Available for free, the newly introduced service aims to help non-Hindi or non-English-speaking Indians with airport procedures from departure to boarding to transit. On knowing this, he heaved a sigh of relief, as it mitigated his worries to a great extent,” said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor of Travel Beats.
He went on to purchase British Airways flight tickets from IndianEagle.com for his mother’s round trip between India and USA. Once the tickets were confirmed, he visited the airline website, booked in-person airport assistance for his mother at RGI HYD Airport and selected Telugu as her only medium of communication. British Airways’ meet and greet service is available in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Punjabi, and at five major airports: New Delhi IGI, Mumbai CSMI, Hyderabad RGI, Bengaluru Kempegowda, and Chennai MAA.
He further wrote on Reddit, “British Airways’ in-person airport assistance service is a welcome relief. The moment Amma arrived at Hyderabad Airport, she was greeted by an assistant who spoke fluent Telugu. At every step of her journey from Hyderabad to London Heathrow where she had a connecting flight to Dallas with American Airlines, she had someone by her side to assist her. I was mostly worried about her transit at Heathrow; however, she had hassle-free connection to American Airlines.”
“Now she’s here with me, smiling, glowing, more confident than ever. And I’m just… proud. So proud. We kids often forget that it’s our mothers who brought us into this world and had far tougher journeys than a few hours in the air. They raised us without Google Maps, mobile apps, social media, and yet, when they travel alone, we panic. Sometimes we worry too much, forgetting that the strength they gave us has always been their own,” Ramana Jalluri concluded.
