BENGALURU: Several passengers were put to hardship in the absence of any prior information sent by SpiceJet via phone call or text messaging about cancelling of its Sunday afternoon flight from Bengaluru to Bagdogra in West Bengal.
The passengers arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to board flight SG759 to Bagdogra, only to learn at the eleventh hour that their flight had been cancelled. The grounding of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft as mandated by the Director General of Civil Aviation was cited as the reason.
Priyadarshini Jain, an entrepreneur, was heading home to celebrate the Holi festival with his family. When he went to the check-in counter of SpiceJet, he was directed to a specific counter.
He told The New Indian Express, “It was only when I reached the second counter that I got the shocking news that flight SG759 had been cancelled. How can they not even send me a text about it? I left my house at HSR Layout at 11 am to reach the airport well in time for my 3 pm flight. The two staffers at this counter did not know the reason too.” This direct flight to Bagdogra was slated to reach its destination at 6 pm.
Describing the scene at the counter as ‘complete chaos,’ Jain said nearly 20 other passengers meant to take the same flight were also fuming over lack of prior intimation.
Unable to get clear information from the two staff manning the counter, Jain tweeted, “This was the worst experience ever @flyspicejet @SpiceJetRBLX. The flight for today blr to ixb got cancelled without acknowledgement via mail or text. When asked there was no response. I could never ever recommend (SpiceJet).” (Sic) SpiceJet later responded from its official handle: “Hi, your (flight) is cancelled due to grounding of boeing 737 max 8 as per regulatory directive. We regret the inconvenience. You may opt for an alternate flight via our website http://changes.spicejet.com.”
Jain charged, “Apart from answering rudely, the staff repeatedly kept stating that refund would be provided. They also kept giving incorrect information that tickets were available towards this direction on Spicejet flights only three days later.”
An announcement on the airline’s website, however, informed in bold that it had grounded its Boeing 737 Max aircraft fleet across India.
Several other passengers did see the scroll and inquired in advance to know that the flight had been cancelled.
But the 20-odd passengers who reached KIA for the flight did not.
A SpiceJet spokesperson did not respond to repeated calls by this reporter. There was no response to tweets sent to the airlines too.