Passengers on an Air India (AI) flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai experienced immense inconvenience and distress due to a nine-hour delay at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Sunday. To make matters worse, airline staff allegedly refused to provide food and even drinking water to the passengers.
Another AI flight to Mumbai was abruptly cancelled later that day after the passengers had already boarded the plane. Flights operated by other carriers on the same route were able to depart without any problems, despite AI blaming the main runway closure and bad weather in Mumbai for the lengthy delay.
According to sources at KIA, AI initially declared a one-hour delay for Flight AI 610, due to leave Bengaluru on Sunday at 7:20 p.m. But for the passengers, this one-hour delay turned into a stressful nine-hour experience.
In another distressing incident, passengers of AI 642, another flight operated by the same airline, experienced an unpleasant situation when they were asked to deplane after a two-hour delay following the boarding process. Passengers were later informed that the initial flight had been canceled, and an alternative flight was scheduled to depart at 9:30 pm. The constantly increasing delay left the Mumbai-bound passengers, like Kalpana Sharma, frustrated and waiting for updates. She stated, “We were waiting to board, but the delay kept getting longer and longer.”
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Over 100 passengers of AI 610 were left in a state of confusion as there were no boarding announcements for the Mumbai-bound flight until 11 pm on Sunday. Arjun V, a chartered accountant from the city, shared the ordeal on social media, mentioning the furious passengers and the airline ground staff’s lack of information even past midnight.
“The ground crew at Bengaluru airport didn’t respond to queries from passengers. They did not even offer water bottles or food packs to children or the elderly, stating that they hadn’t been instructed to do so,” complained Sharma. Chinmay Pattanayak, a passenger on AI 642, criticized the airline, labeling the sudden flight cancellation as an extremely irresponsible act that severely impacted passengers, especially those with connecting flights from Mumbai.
After nine long hours of uncertainty and chaos, all passengers of flight AI 610 were finally allowed to board at 4:30 am on Monday. Similarly, passengers from AI 642 were accommodated on an alternative flight to Mumbai, bringing some respite to the affected individuals.
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