BENGALURU: Nearly 50 flyers headed to India during the Easter break in London via Turkey had a harrowing experience after their IndiGo flight to Mumbai got delayed by 15 hours on March 22.
The initial six hours till 2.30am at the Istanbul International Airport were a nightmare for them with many squatting on the floor for want of seats where they were asked to wait. They were not even given food or information on the flight departure.
Their passports were taken away and returned after bitter arguments with airport officials. They reached their destinations in India from Mumbai on Saturday.
While Turkish Airlines flew most of the flyers from London to Istanbul, IndiGo was to take them from there to Mumbai after a one-hour layover there. However, the IndiGo flight (6E 0018), which was to take off at 8 pm on March 22, was rescheduled to 3.30am the following day and then to 8am. Finally, it took off at 11am.
One of the flyers, Rohit Sharma from Mangaluru and an MBA student from University of East London, told TNIE, “With the ticket fare for direct flight from the UK to Karnataka touching Rs 1 lakh, I opted to come via Turkey and Mumbai, which cost me only Rs 44,000. But it was a nightmarish experience at the Istanbul airport.
We were taken to the travel desk at one corner of the airport where there were only five chairs. When a request was made for more chairs, the response from airport staff was rude. There was no support or information from the airline.
Only after new boarding passes were issued after taking our passports, we got to know that our flight would be at 8am the next day.” “I finally reached home at 12.05am on March 23 instead of the same time a day earlier,” he said.
Flight delay: Woman misses her betrothal
Aashna Gadia from Pune, who just graduated and took up a job in London, said, “There was no sight of our flight in Istanbul on the display board, an airport staffer said they had no idea about it. With our passports taken for fresh boarding passes, we could go nowhere nor use the lounge. I was supposed to reach home on March 22 at 8am. But I reached home only at 3am on March 23.”
A woman from Ahmedabad could not make it to her betrothal because of the flight delay. The function was postponed by her would-be in-laws. A groom returning home for his wedding was panicking. A few flyers shot videos of their desperate situation and uploaded seeking help.
Meanwhile, an IndiGo spokesperson on Sunday said, “IndiGo flight 6E 0018 operating from Istanbul to Mumbai was delayed on March 21, 2024 due to a technical fault. The aircraft operated after necessary rectifications. The flight had to be rescheduled accordingly.”