CHENNAI: More than 100 passengers of a Chennai-Kolkata Air India Express flight were stranded without food and accommodation at the city airport for more than 18 hours after the aircraft developed a technical snag just before take off around 7.40 pm on Friday.
The passengers said the flight with 180 on board halted on the runway, and they were kept in the dark for almost an hour. They said they were deplaned and escorted back to the airport terminal after almost an hour.
Their ordeal did not end there, as the flyers had to spent the entire night at the departure terminal. Sources said some of the passengers who stepped out to collect their luggage were allegedly denied re-entry into the secured zone, sparking panic among the others. Many of the passengers refused to leave for hotel accommodation fearing they too would be locked out.
Those who eventually left the airport were taken in cabs arranged by the airline to two nearby hotels. But the passengers taken to one hotel later alleged no room or proper meal was arranged and that they were left waiting in the hotel lobby through the night before being brought back to the airport on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the passengers who remained inside the terminal said they were given only small bottles of water and a plate of vegetarian biryani around 12.45am, more than five hours after the scheduled departure time.
Kuheli Dutta (50), a passenger who decided to wait at the terminal, said the authorities had not made any special arrangement for the 6 to 7 passengers using wheelchair. She said duty manager Senthil Kumar had pacified the passengers, telling them to wait till 3 am. However, she said, he had disappeared in an hour, leaving the passengers in confusion.
The lack of communication appeared to have deepened passengers’ frustration. At 6.36am on Saturday, nearly 11 hours after the scheduled departure, the passengers were verbally informed the flight would depart at 10am. Barely 10 minutes later, they received what they said was the airline’s first written communication since Friday evening, pushing the departure further back to 1 pm. The flight was again delayed, and it took off from Chennai at 1.45 pm, and reaching Kolkata at 4 pm.
Meanwhile around 9,30 am at the airport, a scuffle broke out as exhausted passengers confronted airline staff demanding answers. A few passengers alleged some of them, including Kuheli, were manhandled by women CRPF personnel.
Confirming the cancellation of the flight, an Air India Express spokesperson said, “An alternative aircraft was arranged to operate the service. In the interim, guests were offered hotel accommodation, complimentary rescheduling options, or cancellation with a full refund. We regret the inconvenience caused.”
However, the spokesperson did not respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by TNIE regarding the passengers’ allegations.