Suitcase swap: Bengaluru techie spots ‘weak link’ on airline portal, traces co-flyer

BENGALURU: Two Bengaluru men accidentally picked up each other’s suitcases at Kempegowda International Airport on Sunday. Incidentally, only one of the flyers realised the goof-up and filed a complaint with the airline’s customer care team. Tired of waiting for a response, the flyer, a techie, scoured through the airline’s official portal only to spot a ‘weak link’ which, he said, gave away the phone number and email ID of the passenger he was looking for.By Monday evening, the two met in southeast Bengaluru and exchanged their luggage.
Software engineer Nandan Kumar Kumar and his wife recently visited his hometown in Bihar and his mother packed him a variety of home-cooked delicacies for their return journey. The 28-year-old took IndiGo flight 6E 185 from Patna and touched down at KIA on Sunday evening. “We were among the last to get off the aircraft and I spotted my black trolley on the conveyor belt and grabbed it. I instantly noticed the wheels were jammed, but thought they might have got damaged due to handling by ground staff,” said Kumar.
But as Kumar was entering their flat in Varthur, his wife noticed that the bag he was carrying had an external lock. “She was stunned and said that I never had an external lock. That is when it struck me that some other passenger had picked up my luggage by mistake. I immediately called IndiGo’s customer helpline, but getting past automated messages and reaching a representative was a nightmare,” recalled the techie, who finally managed to lodge a complaint with the airline after multiple efforts. While the techie asked for the co-passenger’s contact number so that he could personally hand over the bag and collect his, the airline, he said, wasn’t forthcoming as it involved passenger privacy protocols.
‘I chanced upon a flaw’
Kumar waited to hear from IndiGo, but had no update on his luggage even after Monday noon. Patience running thin, he once again tried contacting the airline. But with bots responding, he decided to try something different. “Since I had the name and PNR of the co-passenger on the black suitcase I was holding, I tried it on IndiGo’s official portal hoping to find some contact details, but failed. On further examination of the portal, I spotted a weak link and found the phone number and email ID of the passenger, whose bag I had with me. It was a minor glitch in the website’s security, as the data wasn’t encrypted. I’m no hacker, but a basic techie with common knowledge of web programming, who chanced upon the flaw,” laughed Kumar.
‘Got my bag & a new friend’
Kumar contacted the co-passenger, a Sarjapur resident, who also expressed shock over the luggage exchange. The two passengers met at a supermarket the same evening and exchanged their identical bags and pleasantries as both hailed from Bihar. “He told me IndiGo hadn’t called him till Monday evening and I too was yet to get a response from them. However, I’m happy I got my bag, my mom’s preparations and a new friend,” added Kumar.