Eight-hour flight delay turns ugly

MUMBAI, India – Air India Mumbai-Riyadh flight passengers sparred with airline officials on Saturday after they were delayed by eight hours. Some of the 230 passengers turned unruly and abused airline staff over the inconvenience.

Flight AI 921, which was scheduled for a 1:00 pm departure, was rescheduled to 5:00 pm as the incoming Riyadh-Mumbai flight departed late. The flight was further delayed due to air traffic congestion over Mumbai and then again as the Boeing 777 had an engineering requirement. It finally departed at 7:50 pm, but not before the airport witnessed some ugly scenes.

An Air India spokesperson said the airline took care of its passengers and provided them lunch.

But airport sources said there were many passenger complaints. “Some were unhappy over the quantity of lunch. It was not possible to give extra to those who asked for it,” said a source. The incident once again highlighted a common problem faced by the airline.

“Many passengers on sectors to the Middle East do not give valid contact numbers at the time of booking tickets, so it is not possible to contact them in case of a delay. It is common to find a travel agent’s number listed,” said an airline source. Thus, about 100 passengers could not be informed about the change in departure time. Those who were transit passengers arrived in Mumbai on time to board the 1pm flight as they had no option.

“But many out of the 100-odd passengers were not transit passengers. Since they could not be reached, they arrived at the airport around 9.30am-10am for the 1pm flight instead of reaching at 3pm for the rescheduled 5pm departure,” the official added.

Five to six officials present to handle the situation were those from Air India Air Transport Services Ltd, the ground handling subsidiary of the airline.

“Had there been a single official from AI, the decisions would have been smoother,” said an airline source.