It was another harrowing day for flyers on Wednesday as a majority of Spicejet flights scheduled for the day from or to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) were cancelled.
Sources in the airport said of the scheduled 13 departures and 12 arrivals, there were only two arrivals and two departures. Rashi, a student, was among the fortunate few whose flight took off. She was taking a flight to Delhi from where she was to board a train to Saharanpur to write the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) exam. Her flight took off at 7.45 p.m.
Many other passengers were not so fortunate. Subhojit Ghosh, an IT employee, was to leave for Kolkata – his hometown – on Tuesday. “But I was notified that the flight had been cancelled. I had paid Rs. 6,000 for the return ticket. But when I booked a seat on another flight, I ended up paying Rs. 11,000,” he said. Not only did he have to forgo a day’s leave, but he is also yet to get a refund from Spicejet. “I was told that my money will be refunded in seven to 14 working days,” Mr. Ghosh added.
Several passengers took the social media route to vent their anger and frustration about the staff’s behaviour and the lack of response from the call centre, which Spicejet, responding on a social networking site, said was due to an overload of calls.