Jet Airways plane delayed by over three hours as pilot arrives late

130 passengers of a Chennai-Mumbai Jet Airways plane, which was delayed by over three hours, had a harrowing time after the pilot showed up late and a passenger requested to be offloaded

It was a tiring Tuesday for 130 passengers of Jet Airways’ 9W466 flight from Chennai to Mumbai. The plane that was scheduled to take off at 7.40 am and reach Mumbai at around 10 am, was delayed by over three hours for two alleged reasons — pilot not showing up on time and a passenger requesting to deboard the flight.

Passengers at the baggage counter in Mumbai airport

After reaching Mumbai at 1.05 pm, the passengers were informed that all five star hotels in the suburbs were booked. At around 5 pm, the airline finally managed to get hotel rooms near the airport for the tired passengers.

Worst hit
A group of eight passengers were the worst affected. They missed their connecting flight to London, which departed on its scheduled time of 1.30 pm, and had to wait in Mumbai for 13 hours to board the next flight.

Nandkumar, one of the aggrieved passengers and leader of the delegation to London, said he got many SMSes from the airline in the wee hours of Tuesday that the flight was on time and they must report at the airport before 7 am.

“At around 7 am, we saw a couple of buses ferrying the passengers to the aircraft but were suddenly informed that the pilot had not reported for duty. After waiting patiently, we finally boarded the aircraft at around 10 am.

But our ordeal was far from over as one of the passengers insisted to be offloaded as he had missed his business appointment in Mumbai owing to the delay. Then, all the passengers were told to deboard the flight because of one person. The flight finally took off at 11 am, after a delay of three hours,” said Nandkumar.

The other side
“Jet Airways flight 9W 466 from Chennai was delayed due to operational reasons. Guests were accommodated in the departure area at Chennai Airport and served breakfast and refreshments. Alternate travel arrangements were made for some guests as per their request. Jet Airways sincerely regrets inconvenience caused to the guests,” said the airline’s spokesperson.

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