Flight AI 809, which was scheduled to depart from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 11.15am, eventually took off at 2.34pm, due to a technical glitch, a passenger, Lakhvendra Khurana, told DNA.
Saturday morning proved harrowing for the 282 passengers, including two IUML MPs, of a Mumbai-Delhi Air India flight. Not only was their flight delayed for nearly four hours, they were not allowed to disembark or take another flight, forcing them to remain inside all throughout. The IUML MPs — PK Kunhalikutty and Abdul Wahab — who were to fly to Delhi for the vice-presidential polls, could not cast their vote, as they reached 10 minutes after polling was closed.
Flight AI 809, which was scheduled to depart from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 11.15am, eventually took off at 2.34pm, due to a technical glitch, a passenger, Lakhvendra Khurana, told DNA.
"My original flight was at 9am. But, I got a message saying the flight was delayed and I should take AI 809 at 11.15am. Similarly, passengers who were to take a 1pm flight were informed of a reschedule and asked to check in early to board the same AI flight as ours. So, the passengers of both flights boarded AI 809, and then it was a long wait for the flight to take off. The air conditioner was not functioning and there was no senior person to attend to us. The captain would not talk and they would not allow us to meet our other emergencies despite people requesting them to do the same," claimed Khurana.
Spokesperson of Air India, Dhananjay Kumar, said, "The flight was delayed due to a technical glitch. We have ordered an inquiry."
A video recording of the flight that was widely circulated on the social media had passengers complaining about the delay.
"I will miss the event for which I'm taking the flight," one passenger can be heard saying, while some passengers can be heard seeking the permission to deboard, but are turned down by persons who can be heard identifying themselves as assistant manager and terminal manager.
"I had to meet people for a marriage ceremony. They had to wait for me for six hours. I finally managed to meet them at around 6pm. We kept telling them we have emergencies, we should be given out luggage back so we can leave. We even said we do not want a refund. When I contacted my travel agent, he said they have done this earlier as well," said Khurana.
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