Flight delay turns into 2-day ordeal for over 200 IndiGo passengers

More than 200 passengers who were about to travel to New Delhi from Almaty Kazakhstan by IndiGo flight P6E1802 were stranded at the foreign airport after the airline cancelled the latenight flight on April 12The flyers including senior citizens checked in on Friday evening in time for the scheduled takeoff at 1250 am only to learn that it had been cancelled and they would have to wait another 18 hours to take the rescheduled flight at 7 pm on SaturdayThis second flight too was delayed by over two hours finally taking off at 920 pm local time or 950 pm ISTAt 750 pm the passengers were informed that the airline was preparing extra fuel in anticipation of delay at New Delhi airport A passenger who spoke to midday at 9 pm IST last night said IndiGo was still waiting for a clearance signature from an Air Astana engineer Air Astana is the flag carrier of Kazakhstan Passengers also alleged that no official communication was made by Pilot Captain Aakash Agarwal Copilot Akshay Gupta or the flight crew while they were stuck inside the aircraft for over two hoursThroughout alleged passengers there was no clear and timely communication from the airlines After the first flight was cancelled they were stranded at the airport for several hours before they were shifted to a hotel They alleged that IndiGo paid for the hotel accommodation but no food or beverage was served to stranded passengers at the airport either on Friday or Saturday When passengers demanded food inside the aircraft during the delay the crew allegedly told them that they should have prebooked the mealOne of the passengers Prajakta Samant said that on Friday night there was no communication about the delay She added that they only got notifications from the airline via text and emails from 135 am onwards ldquoAt 345 am IndiGo staff informed us that there was some issue with the aircraft tyre Then we were told that the pilots were too exhausted to fly At 415 am after making us wait at the airport for several hours they informed us that the flight had been rescheduled for 7 pmrdquo Samant recalledAnother passenger said ldquoAt 515 am we exited the airport We had to haul our luggage for 300 meters and load it on the bus to the hotelrdquoRashida Naim Ghiya 70 told midday ldquoAs a senior citizen it was traumatic having to carry the luggagerdquoFellow flyer Karan Verma said ldquoThe airlines is completely at fault Another big problem was the language barrier as none of the ground staff were fluent in EnglishrdquoOne flyer pointed out that if the incoming flight was delayed due to weather conditions in Delhi and its crewrsquos shift was close to ending the airline should have sent a replacement crew ldquoShould over 200 people be left hanging for 20 hours amid uncertainty over when they will get home We were awake all of last night and probably will be tonight too as we will land at 1030pm and then struggle to find onward flights and trains to our home citiesrdquo said Samant150 amScheduled takeoff time local time7 pmRescheduled time920 pmActual takeoff timeThe airline sayshellipldquoThe incoming aircraft scheduled to operate Flight 6E 1802 from Almaty to Delhi was delayed due to prevailing weather conditions which subsequently triggered flight duty time limitations for our crew We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate our passengersrsquo understanding of the challenge beyond our control IndiGo had made necessary arrangements to offer refreshments and accommodation to customers as neededrdquo said IndiGo in a statementatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params