Amidst days of disarray for Delhi flight operations due to fog, passengers are losing their minds. A man slapped the captain of an IndiGo flight. Hundreds of passengers have crowded check-in counters, while many yell at airline staff. And passengers sat down on the tarmac next to one plane to eat a meal during a 12 hour delay.
Over 1,000 IndiGo flights a day have been delayed for each of the last several days. On one IndiGo flight from Goa to Delhi that was diverted to Mumbai, passengers were allowed off of the aircraft for dinner, but they couldn’t go far. Here they’re shown sitting next to the aircraft during their meal.
passengers of IndiGo Goa-Delhi who after 12 hours delayed flight got diverted to Mumbai having dinner just next to indigo plane pic.twitter.com/jGL3N82LNS
— JΛYΣƧΉ (@baldwhiner) January 15, 2024
Meanwhile, on another IndiGo flight from Delhi to Goa passengers boiled over during a 10 hour delay. The first flight crew timed out, exceeding their maximum duty hours, and a new crew was summoned. While a new pilot was making an announcement, one passenger stormed the cockpit and assaulted the crewmember.
A passenger punched an Indigo capt in the aircraft as he was making delay announcement. The guy ran up from the last row and punched the new Capt who replaced the previous crew who crossed FDTL. Unbelievable ! @DGCAIndia @MoCA_GoI pic.twitter.com/SkdlpWbaDd
— Capt_Ck (@Capt_Ck) January 14, 2024
According to IndiGo,
We have established an internal committee, and the incident has been referred to it. The committee will determine appropriate action against the passenger, including the possibility of placing him on the ‘No Fly List’ under the unruly behaviour category.
The airline is required to investigate and will of course ban the passenger. They will not likely compensate the other passengers (and perhaps not even the pilot, at this low cost carrier).
India will be India .
Well, they got free dinner, which is probably more than I would’ve gotten in a similar situation here. And the weather is good in Mumbai, so why not eat outside lol. I love how they roll in South Asia.
Bad flight delays due to fog at DEL at this time of year is nothing new. It’s been a problem going back for as long as anyone commenting here has been alive. What is different from 20+ years ago is that culture has become coarser and more aggressive and Indian airports and flights are increasingly like flying Spirit out of Florida with the same sort of spirited occasional drama.
@GUWonder Its easy to blame the public or passengers always. Its the Indian government fault not to have laws to fine airlines for more than 3 hours in tarmac. Return to the gate and let the people inside. They are humans, not animals.
Black Hill,
The best way to pursue redress for unhappiness over a long delay on a commercial plane generally doesn’t involve assaulting the flight crew. Don’t see why this should be the exception either.
Yes, the Indian government should boost consumer rights for travelers. Actually, they should boost all sorts of rights for people in the country. Unfortunately, the country is going down the slippery slope of growing fascism, including with big business being a cozy-suck-up to the Modi machine and getting governmental favors in kind.