An Air India flight from Delhi that was to leave for San Francisco on Thursday was delayed by almost 18 hours after passengers were allegedly made to board the flight and sit without any air conditioning, causing dizziness to some of them. Taking the note of the incident, aviation watchdog DGCA has issued a show-cause notice to the Tata group-owned airline for “inordinate delay” and failure to take due care of passengers.
“Air India is hereby called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airline,” the regulator said.
Journalist Shweta Punj posted on social media claiming that a few people inside the flight had fainted and subsequently they were asked to deboard the aircraft.
“Today in two hours it will be 24 hours for the passengers of AI 183. They were sent to a hotel late last night, to be back at 8:00am to the airport and now they have been asked to go back to the hotel,” Punj posted on social media on Friday morning.
The departure timing has been rescheduled due to technical snag and the aircraft is likely to start its journey on Friday afternoon.
Another passenger mentioned that the deboarded passengers were not allowed to enter the terminal because the immigration formalities were completed.
“The passengers were given refreshments around 11:30-12:00 last night, after which they were given hotel accommodation. They were told to come back at 8 am today and the moment they checked in, they were told to go back to the hotel,” Punj added.
Meanwhile, anxious relatives of elderly passengers who were on board also posted on X asking for explanations.
“Please let mine and the numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area go home! AI 183 is over 8 hours late. People were made to board the plane and sit without ac. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done,” Abhishek Sharma posted on X.
Tagging Air India, another person, Parush Garg, also complained about the discomfort caused to his elderly parents who were inside the flight. “My parents got stuck in this flight due to your delay of more than 8 hours with no AC working and flight was changed to 20 hours later with an additional aircraft change. Is this how you treat people especially senior citizens? No wheelchairs were made accessible even during this delay when advance request was made. They did not get extra leg space seat assigned in the new aircraft even when paid for both the seats 2 months ago. Can you help answering here?” Garg asked.
@airindia #AI183 – My parents got stuck in this flight due to your delay of more than 8 hours with no AC working and flight was changed to 20 hours later with an additional aircraft change. Is this how you treat people especially senior citizens?
— Parush Garg (@gargparush) May 30, 2024
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According to an Air India spokesperson, the flight was cancelled by 6 pm on Thursday due to technical difficulties and has been rescheduled for Friday afternoon.
The DGCA has pulled up the airline over the incident. In its show-cause notice, it also highlighted a similar May 24 incident, when a Mumbai to San Francisco was also delayed, and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin.
The regulator also noted that Air India is “time and again failing in taking due care of passengers”, and not complying with its provisions related to ‘facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”.
“Air India is hereby called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airline,” for the violations, the regulator said.
With inputs from PTI
