Jaipur Airport Chaos: The arbitrary decisions made by airline companies continue to add to the passenger’s woes. Air India Express kept its passengers on the plane for over five long hours before it canceled the flight at the last moment. Infuriated by their ordeal, the passengers took to protesting at the airport.
The incident relates to Air India Express Flight IX-1215 scheduled for departure to Mumbai at 9:25 AM. Meanwhile, all passengers had boarded the aircraft. However, the airline staff delayed the flight for technical reasons. The airplane spent more than five hours on the runway. Finally, at 2:30 PM, the airline cancelled the flight, leading the waiting passengers to erupt in outrage.
Alternative Flight Arranged for 6 PM
Following an uproar, airline staff escorted passengers into the arrival area, where they provided food to assemble the passenger’s travel arrangements for another flight. The alternative flight is for 6 PM, but yet not enough passengers have been accommodated. That’s why there is a confusion at the arrival lounge of the airport.
Passengers Voice Frustration
Raghav Rawat, traveling from Jaipur to Mumbai, said, “I reached the airport on time for my flight to Mumbai. I don’t know what kind of technical glitch was there with our plane, but we waited at the airport for over five hours before it could take off. Because of Air India Express’s negligence, I wasn’t the only one inconvenienced; all the passengers going to Mumbai were suffering. From 9 AM to 3 PM, we have only been given false assurances. We have received no concrete arrangements to get to Mumbai so far.”
Another passenger on the flight, Shilpa Sharma, said: “This is the condition of the airline companies here in India. Flights hardly ever take off on time. Passengers are treated like pieces of luggage; it is totally unacceptable.”
Airline Yet to Respond Officially
Air India Express was being spoken to for a counter-statement, but have not provided any formal response. But the airline have assured the passengers that a second flight would be arranged by six o’clock to remedy the situation.
The incident serves to underline the concerns being raised over the reliability of airlines and the treatment of passengers, with affected persons being allowed to express their frustration.
