Eighteen passengers bound for Chennai by Kingfisher Airlines were stranded at Coimbatore Airport on Tuesday morning as the airlines found that the passengers could not be accommodated.
Kingfisher was scheduled to operate an A 320 aircraft with 180 seating capacity from Chennai to Coimbatore and again from Coimbatore to Chennai.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 07.05 a.m. Of the total number of passengers who had been given confirmed tickets, 18 could not be accommodated since the airline could operate only an ATR 72 aircraft from Chennai and the same flight was scheduled to return.
The airlines offered to have the passengers airlifted to Chennai by the next available Spice Jet flight.
This led to heated exchanges and commotion, as passengers wanted to travel immediately and questioned the rationale and reasons behind the priority extended to other passengers for travelling in the scheduled flight.
Explaining the circumstances, the Kingfisher Airline authorities arranged breakfast for the stranded passengers and got them accommodated in the Spice Jet flight that took off at 10.20 a.m.
