Mid-Day revives vacay dreams for 40 Mumbai daily wagers

After midday highlighted the plight of 40 women dailywage workers who were stranded at a Mumbai hotel after their flight to Kathmandu was cancelled on November 3 Royal Nepal Airlines arranged alternative flights to and from Nepalrsquos capital for the passengersThe women had been informed that the flight which was to take off at 345 pm was delayed At 830 pm they were told it had been cancelled Though airline staff promised to arrange for an alternative travel option the next day Monday November 4 they failed to do so prompting the women to sit outside the Mumbai office in protest on Tuesday morning That night after midday spoke to the relevant authorities an alternative flight was finally arranged allowing the group to travel to Kathmandu on Wednesday morningSheeja Pillai a member of the groupThe women all of whom work in Mumbai households as domestic helpers had saved Rs 40000 over two years for the trip Excitement turned to frustration however as flight RNA202 was cancelled just before boarding with the airline citing technical issues involving an Airbus A320 in need of repairs Despite assurances that they would be accommodated on another flight the following day the group was left waiting for over 59 hours without concrete information on the rescheduled flightThe airline finally agreed on providing an alternate flight to Kathmandu and has also rescheduled the groups return tickets from November 8 to November 11 and 12Women affected sat outside the Royal Nepal Airlinesrsquo office on Tuesday PicsKirti Surve ParadeWords of gratitudeSheeja Pillai a member of the group thanking this newspaper said ldquoWe had almost lost hope about vacationing in Kathmandu Thank you midday for highlighting our issue and bringing us back on track As domestic workers we cannot afford to take such trips regularly The airline had promised us some credit notes saying that they would allow us to travel some other day but that is not possible for us We cannot afford to book hotels and also lose the money put in to make hotel reservations nowrdquoAsked about rescheduling the hotel bookings Pillai said ldquoOur tour organiser and guides accompanying us spoke to the hotel managers and rescheduled our bookings without any added costsrdquoRahul Divedi tour organiser right Vaibhavi Tawade a group memberSpeaking about the return journey to Mumbai Vaibhavi Tawade another member of the group said ldquomidday offered us tremendous support during our ordeal The airline has shifted our return journey from November 8 to 11 The return tickets have been a bit scattered according to the availability of aircraft seats Some of us will board the return flight on November 11 while others will do so the following dayrdquoRahul Divedi the tour organiser also thanked midday while recounting the difficulties faced since the flight cancellation ldquoAfter being informed of the cancellation the group had to wait for hours before the airline arranged for accommodations at the Hotel Le Grande Delays continued as transportation was provided inconsistently Although an airline representative had promised to stay in contact with updates on the rescheduled departure no airline staff was available at the hotelrdquoRepeated calls to the airlinersquos Mumbai office messages to the airlinersquos CEO and complaints to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation went unanswered Divedi along with the stranded passengers sought fair compensation especially given the impact on the womenrsquos finances as dailywage workersFinally late at night on November 5 Royal Nepal Airlines arranged an alternative flight allowing the group to travel to Kathmandu on November 6Divedi added ldquoWe were having dinner at the hotel when the hotel staff received a call from the airlinersquos office to inform us to check out and proceed towards the airport Transport was also made available for us After clearing immigration and other formalities the flight to Kathmandu took off at 330 am on Wednesday We landed at Kathmandu airport around 8 am and moved to our hotelrdquo330 amTime on Wednesday when flight to Kathmandu took off