BENGALURU: Friday turned out to be miserable for flyers in Bengaluru as 28 departing flights from the Kempegowda International Airport and 25 incoming flights were cancelled abruptly due to a Microsoft system outage globally. At least 77 flights suffered considerable delays. Most of the cancelled flights were operated by IndiGo.
With airlines failing to alert flyers about cancellations, hundreds had to go back, spending money on travel both ways.
With the check-in of flyers done manually and a paper boarding pass issued inside the terminal, queues moved very slowly in both Terminal 1 & 2. “Flights had to be cancelled due to the huge pile-up of flyers queuing up for checks,” said an airport source. Both incoming and outgoing flights were delayed for an average of 45-50 minutes.
Vibhor V, a consultant in Analytics, had completed the web check-in and had the boarding pass too on hand, and he travelled from Bannerghatta to board his Mumbai flight (6E 5376, with departure time of 7.15 pm). He told TNIE, “I reached by 4.15 pm, but the CISF staff did not permit me to enter the terminal. They tried to scan my boarding pass and it could not be done. They said my flight is cancelled as per their records. They asked me to visit the Indigo counter.”
When he reached that counter, he saw hundreds waiting for the refund. “IndiGo said they could not give me the refund immediately as the systems were not working. They also could not reschedule my flight for the next day as they did not know the flying status of the next day too,” he added.
He paid Rs 1,000 as taxi fare to reach the airport and paid a similar amount to go back.
Those who tried booking tickets for future travel too suffered. Karthik Ramanath was booking a round trip ticket from Bengaluru to Mumbai around noon. “I booked my onward ticket from Bengaluru to Mumbai on July 31. It got booked. When I tried booking the return ticket, it said the server was down and I could not do so. But the fare was deducted. I got a mail later saying my fare will be reimbursed within five days,” he said.
Cancelled flights
An Airports Authority of India source said, “Most cancelled flights from Bengaluru were operated by IndiGo. No international or cargo flight was cancelled.”
BIAL version
A spokesperson of Bangalore International Airport Ltd said, “Global outage with the Navitaire Departure Control System has been affecting operations of some airlines across their network, including Bengaluru Airport since 10:40 am on July 19.
IndiGo, Akasa and SpiceJet in T1 and Air India Express in T2 are among the impacted airlines. The Common Use Terminal Equipment and Common Use Self Service systems are also experiencing disruptions.”