AI flight delay irks passengers

Passengers of a Mumbai bound flight of Air India had a harrowing time at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Wednesday after it got delayed by nearly five hours.

Delhi-Mumbai flight (AI 349) was scheduled to depart at 5.40 am but kept on getting delayed even as the stranded passengers started shouting slogans against the public carrier.

“I couldn’t sleep the last night because I had the early morning flight to catch and had to reach the airport by 3.30 am. Not only the flight kept getting late, the Air India staff at the airport didn’t provide stranded passengers any assistance or even announce the reasons for the delay and the correct time at which it will depart,” said a passenger who didn’t wish to be named.

According to sources at the airport, many passengers shouted slogans against the airline while some just sat on the floor as a sign of protest.

The flight to Mumbai finally left the Delhi airport at 10.15 am. “The flight took off at 10.15 am and reached Mumbai at around 12:05 pm,” an AI official said.

The aircraft that was supposed to fly on the route of Shanghai-Delhi-Mumbai, developed a technical glitch that could not be rectified. As a result, Air India had to arrange for another aircraft to fly on the Delhi to Mumbai leg of the flight.

“The aircraft developed a snag at Shanghai, where it was technically grounded and could not get out of there to reach Delhi. As this happened at the last moment, we had to arrange an alternative aircraft, which took some time,” the official said.