Air India offers ₹30,000 apology to 220 passengers after 30-hour harrowing flight delay – CNBC TV18

In a harrowing incident for 220 passengers on board Air India flight AI183 from Delhi to San Francisco, a technical fault with the air conditioning system turned into an over 30-hour ordeal which ended on Friday (May 31) evening as the flight was rescheduled multiple times and even returned to the Delhi Airport within five minutes after take-off.

Air India apologised for the incident and has offered a travel voucher of $350 (approximately ₹30,000) to each of the 220 that took off from the national capital after a delay of over 30 hours.

A source told CNBC-TV18 that there were 199 passengers on board the flight. After a delay of over 30 hours, the flight took off from the national capital at 21:55 hours on Friday and landed in San Francisco at 12:45 hours (IST) on Saturday. The actual duration of the flight was 16 hours.

As an apology, Air India has offered vouchers worth $350 to each passenger for future travel with the airline, a letter dated May 31 said.

“Please allow me to sincerely apologise, on behalf of Air India, for the extended delay in bringing you to San Francisco, which was caused by several technical delays and other operational constraints,” Air India Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Klaus Goersch said in a letter to passengers.

All the passengers have the option to credit the amount instead of using it for travel.”We are very sorry for this lapse in our service and the inconvenience caused to you,” Goersch’s letter read.

Also read: Air India Express launches ‘Time to Travel’ offer with fares starting at ₹1,177: Check details

The Delhi-San Francisco flight was originally scheduled to take off at around 15:30 hours on Thursday, but faced inordinate delays due to various factors, including a technical glitch, non-functional air-conditioning system and payload issues.

On Friday, aviation regulator DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India for some flight delays and failure to take due care of the passengers.

In a show cause notice, the watchdog mentioned the delay of two international flights — AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24.