Row between SpiceJet crew and passengers delays flight by 8 hours

Many passengers were left stranded at the airport after Spicejet announced that its flights were delayed by four or five hours. 

Flight number 157 and 159 going from Delhi to Mumbai were delayed by four to five hours. One of the flights which was supposed to take off at 9:50 pm was delayed till 2 am and the other which was supposed to take off at 6:40 pm was delayed till 12:10 am.

Krishna Hegde, a passenger who was scheduled to travel to Mumbai on the Spicejet flight said, "The passengers have been greatly inconvenienced. When we approached the officials they told us that the delay was due to technical problems, later they changed their statement and said that the delay was because of weather problems."

He further said, "It's really hard to believe the officials considering other flights like Go Air and Indigo are operating without any such delays." 

In order to pacify the miffed passengers, Spicejet offered free burger and Coke from KFC to all those whose flights were delayed. 

Hegde also told dna that passengers of flight number 157 alleged that a ground staff assaulted one of them while the groud staff alleged that they were assaulted by 2 passengers from that flight.

Even after the boarding commenced, the two passengers were detained and an FIR was filed against them, Hegde adds.

To show soliditary with the detained, the other passengers reportedly refused to board the flight. SpiceJet Duty Manager Tarun Dutt and the ground staff threatened to off load all the passengers who did not board the flight. 25 to 30 passengers asked Spice Jet to cancel their bookings.

It was only hours after the row, that Tarun Dutt, captain of the flight and other officials assured that they will let off the 2 detained passengers with an apology. The flight finally took off and landed at Mumbai airport at 4.30 am on Friday morning.

The passengers at the Delhi Airport also faced inconvenience on Tuesday night when a technical problem in the immigration system left hundreds of passengers stranded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.