BENGALURU: It was a nightmarish experience for nine flyers, including a two-year-old child, who missed boarding their Air Asia flight from Terminal 2 on Thursday afternoon. A combination of factors, including alleged insensitivity by Air Asia staff, delays in the shuttle bus from T1 to T2, and malfunctioning airport equipment left the flyers stressed, and cost them dear in terms of time and money. All of them were to board Flight I5 942 to Vishakapatnam, which was to depart at 1.20 pm.
Among the nine flyers were senior citizen P Lakshman Rao and his wife Tapateeswari, who reached the airport from their daughter’s house in Kothanur. Recalling their ordeal, Rao, a retired Central government employee, said, “We left our house at 11 am, and despite my daughter and us repeatedly telling the Ola cab driver to take us to T2, he left us at T1 and told us to take the shuttle bus. It was 11.40 am. The airport staff directed us to the shuttle bus that would be to come shortly.” Shuttle buses run by airport operator Bangalore International Airport Limited run at a frequency of 10 to 15 minutes.
The couple boarded a shuttle, but say it did not start for at least 15 minutes, as the driver waited for the seats to fill up. “We reached the T2 gate in five minutes, but there, the DigiYatra system did not work. Security personnel let us in after checking our Aadhaar cards,” he said.
“When we reached the gates by 12.20 pm, the airport staff said we had not been screened and their system does not show it. We explained about the malfunction. At the next counter, Air Asia staff were speaking non-stop on their phones. My wife and I repeatedly pleaded with them that our flight was due. After 20 minutes, we are told we cannot travel and the gate was closed. After our repeated requests to speak to a senior officer, a lady came after 15 minutes and said she was having tea. We were told it was too late. Air Asia literally and intentionally robbed us of our money,” Rao said.
A heavily pregnant Divya Nethula and her mother-in-law Nagiredla Gowri, too, were not allowed to board, despite repeated pleas. Divya’s husband, who had come to see them off, told TNIE, “By 11 am, we reached Terminal 1 from our house in Electronics City, and spent time there having lunch. We took the shuttle bus and reached T2. My family passed one gate by 12.40 pm but at the second gate, they stopped them, saying they were late. I spoke to their staff on mobile from outside and explained that my wife was pregnant and couldn’t take much strain. They refused to help.” The flyers later took an Akasa Air flight which departed at 3.50 pm the same day.