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Published : 12 Mar 2025, 03:35 AM
Khilgaon resident Toufiq Hasan recently returned home from Kuala Lumpur on “Malaysia Airlines” and discovered that he had lost a bag.
He dialled the hotline number of Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport and made a complaint to the authorities.
On the operator's advice, he then sent an SMS to the airport’s “Lost & Found” desk.
Later, a member of the coordinating team who was there explained to him the next course of action on a return call.
Two days later, he received a call from the Lost & Found branch informing him that his bag had been found. He was highly pleased about it.
Shah Ali, a Bangladeshi-origin American, contacted the email address given on Shahjalal's website and asked if he would get an on-arrival visa upon his arrival in Bangladesh.
From there, he was informed by email that the on-arrival visa was unavailable. He must apply in advance for a visa.
The government launched a call centre (09614013600), a website (www.hsia.gov.bd), and a customer relationship management, or CRM, software on Jul 28, 2023, to scale up passenger service and lower suffering at Shahjalal International Airport.
At that time, it was said that passengers would get all kinds of updated information including various services of the airport, customs, immigration, and airlines on the website.
And by calling the hotline, passengers can directly report the complaint or inconvenience and get the necessary information.
Through the CRM software, passengers will be able to know airport information service, Lost & Found service, and when an airline's flight will depart or arrive from home.
Later, the airport authorities launched the call centre's short code 13600 as a hotline number.
According to the airport authority, the hotline and website received more than 20,000 queries and complaints in the one and a half years until Jan 12, 2025.
Most of them have been resolved, the authorities claimed.
Of these complaints, the highest, about 30 percent, were reported to the Lost & Found desk. That is, the most frequent complaint of passengers is the loss of belongings.
Meanwhile, flight inquiries are about 15 percent alongside 10 percent together about immigration, airport, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and services of other airlines.
Visa-related queries also accounted for 10 percent, airport health and safety queries about 7 percent, and the remaining was from a variety of questions.
Group Captain Kamrul Islam, the airport's executive director, told bdnews24.com that 99.64 percent of the complaints or queries had been resolved by January 2025.
Efforts are under way to resolve 0.13 percent of the problems. No solution could be given to 0.23 percent of the complaints, he added.
"We have set up a coordination team to address issues that cannot be resolved immediately. They go to the relevant department and work 24 hours to sort out issues in the fastest possible time."
Asked about the process, he said: "When someone makes a query or complaint at the hotline, it can be addressed directly. And, when using the website, a tracking number is given to the complainant through SMS and email. With that tracking number, the complainant can self-monitor the next update."
