[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

But questions I have is what has been Indigo's response in managing the 10 hour flight delay? How did they inform the passengers and keep them updated? Did the passengers have to stay in the flight for the duration? Or (I assume this is the case) were they waiting in the airport, and if so, were updates shared with them over the duration and their concerns addressed during this time? I assume it wasn't done very well, and hence the slapping incident.

Departure Time as Scheduled: 7.40AM
Boarding starts at 12.20PM
Doors shut at 2.50PM
Pilot makes his slap-full announcement at 3.20PM.
Snacks are finally served at 4.00PM ie over 8 hours from scheduled departure and roughly 3.5 to 4 hours after boarding
Flight takes off at: 5.33PM roughly ten hours after schedule and 5 hours after boarding.

My sympathies are with the passenger. A pilot blaming the passengers for the delay reeks of arrogance, callousness and pure lack of common sense not to mention he clearly did not view the passengers as fare paying customers who are the reason for the airline's very existence.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Don't think any Indian airline will apologize for things out of their control

Its not just with Airlines alone, its everywhere. The concept of Apologizing meaningfully does not exist. Has anyone here who experienced a DSG failure been issued with a apology notice from VW or even the Dealer? Maybe a handful recognize putting someone at inconvenience. "Goodwill" has also become an overused term. We will fix this for you on these terms.

We faced this exact situation in January 2023, flying from Chandigarh to Kochi with a connecting flight at Hyderabad. My parents paid and booked for the flights hence I didn't want them to pay too much so Indigo was chosen as the Airline. Not many options for this sector too.

I knew from the get go there will be delays and we delayed the connecting flight by almost 5 hours, which ended up being a good thing.

When we left home around 5am, it was evident the flight was not going to take of on time. We could barely see 50 meters ahead. This was first week of January where winter in these parts are at their peak. However, no SMS or email notice of the flight departure time changing. We reached the airport, check in happens smooth, they board us on the dot and after that a long wait endured. Visibility was bad and the Pilot did convey that message on the PA system. We were seated on the plane from around 630am to around 945am. 3 hours of a wait was bad enough. I can't for the life imagine sitting and doing nothing for 10 hours + no proper communication from the Airline! The usual update from the airline continued sighting visibility issues but these announcement are spoken as an afterthought or for the sake of it, as they announce it at a running rate of an Usain Bolt sprint. I do believe some biscuits came around and water was on offer so that may have eased everyone's nerves a little. However, I would have preferred being deboarded so you can walk around, stretch your legs. It was frustrating to sit and do nothing for 3 hours.

On the other hand, I did think, Chandigarh is a tiny airport so deboarding means the airport will be jam packed as there are other passengers waiting to board their flight too. The Airline with the Airport authorities must have decided to keep passengers on the plane as a means for crowd control.

Anyway, we finally left the ground around 10am, reaching Hyderabad with 2 hours to spare for our next flight.

Delays are inevitable for multiple reasons. Its about how the Airline conducts itself towards its customers.

Two days ago, I dropped my folks at the airport to catch their flight back to India (from Wellington, New Zealand). 1045Am departure and no announcement from the airline till 1015am. Something felt odd. My son was fiddling with Flight radar and he noticed that the plane my parents were supposed to take had been re routed. He could see that a landing was attempted (In Wellington) and the flight being turned around to Christchurch. Thats when I decided to speak to a Air New Zealand representative. Then they finally delayed the departure time on the screens which meant things were going to get dicey for my folks as they had only 3 hours to transfer from Auckland Domestic terminal to the International Terminal which requires taking a bus journey for about 5 to 7minutes. Its an Airport provided bus so is a free service for all to shuttle between the terminals. Their flight didn't land because of visibility issues (Its Summer for us but the weather has been all over the place). There was another flight on the ground scheduled for Queenstown which got cancelled for some reason. Air New Zealand swiftly moved my folks onto this aircraft which they now redirected to Auckland. The airline knew that the domestic run between Wellington and Auckland was also for customers who were on other International connections, like my folks were. They flew out by 1115am, a delay of 30minutes from their original flight. I was not happy about the lack of information from Air New Zealand on what was going on, however, the final outcome turned out well and my folks could fly and make their connecting flight to Singapore. Hopefully the folks that were canceled to Queenstown were compensated.

Lots to improve on some of our Domestic carriers for sure. Simple, clear and honest communication is all it takes. Will make a world of a difference.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Air New Zealand swiftly moved my folks onto this aircraft which they now redirected to Auckland. The airline knew that the domestic run between Wellington and Auckland was also for customers who were on other International connections, like my folks were. They flew out by 1115am, a delay of 30minutes from their original flight. I was not happy about the lack of information from Air New Zealand on what was going on, however, the final outcome turned out well and my folks could fly and make their connecting flight to Singapore. Hopefully the folks that were canceled to Queenstown were compensated.

Lots to improve on some of our Domestic carriers for sure. Simple, clear and honest communication is all it takes. Will make a world of a difference.

This is good stuff. Thing is the volume of passengers boarded in these Airlines is perhaps a mere fraction of what our Indian carriers handle. Basically in India its a problem of simply not being able to handle scale and magnitude. And as Mr Narayan has said, the attitude of security and the airport authority and others, along with the lack of proper systems and processes to handle these eventualities, do not bode well for the hapless passenger much either. Yet this js the most highly taxed industry in India. Sheer greed and a complete hangover from the dark days of the Protectionist-Socialist-Commie Economy.

[V.Narayan]

Delhi has faced fog for 7 weeks each year since times immemorial. The fact that clogging in Delhi has a cascading effect on most flights across the country has been known since civil aviation came of age in India in 1950s. When the Udaan scheme to build/recommission airports across the country was being discussed for industry feedback this point was brought up more than once as a part of a holistic discussion on what needs to be done to make civil aviation a backbone like Railways & the Road Transport industry. But so many departments {read power fiefdoms} need to co-ordinate that even a competent Civil Aviation Secretary couldn't get these bozos to work together. Cat III runways with functioning equipment key word being functioning + Cat III certified pilots + BCAS* putting together its rules for de-boarding and parking pax in the terminal + the terminal having enough room to accommodate these pax + airport builders being told to have such sanitized spaces and so on. There is no rocket science here but the will is lacking. I have been a member of several such meetings in my time and till the MoCA remains a dumping ground for politicos things won't change. The Civil Aviation Secretary's have for the most part been competent people the problem lies with the politicians there. Even Udaan and the Air India divestment happened only due to top down pressure from the PMO and due to the Ministry having a superbly competent Secretary at the time whom the then Minister dared not take on.

I don't expect anything to change too soon. Thanks to Twitter (X) matters get escalated and spread like wildfire providing some pressure on the bureaucrats and politicos to do something even if late. If Twitter had not been there even this minimal sense of urgency would be lacking.

* Bureau of Civil Aviation Security

[thanixravindran]

Isn't allowing to dine in tarmac near runway a safety hazard for flight operations? Won't the food spill over attract birds that create issues for flight take off or landing?

Around 10 years ago, I was in a British Airways plane from Bangalore that was delayed by 3 hours after boarding. It was a sheer torture to sit in the flight which is full of passengers in close proximity, children crying, loud phone calls, lack of transparency on what's going on. Finally, it took off and forget about an apology from the snobbish BA. I wrote a strongly worded email later and received a 50 Pound voucher to be used in next flight.

An 8 hour or 10 hour delay in domestic is too much. For operational delay (non weather) from their own side, they have to refund the ticket price. After all, no refund if a passenger is late after check in cutoff time.

[padmrajravi]

I was travelling for the last 5 days and had the misfortune of getting stuck in multiple airports due to fog. I used Indigo, Air India Express and SpiceJet. All three airlines just kept postponing the boarding time citing a single reason - 'Delay in incoming aircraft'. And it is probably correct too. But what was missing was the care towards their customers. They should have at least provided refreshments to the waiting people. Three of my flights saw passenger agitation and the ladies at the boarding gates facing shouting passengers. In all this, I still found Indigo to be the best among the three in managing the chaos and Air India Express to be the worst. Indigo at least made frequent announcements and was systematic. Air India Express on the other hand had untrained staff. At one point, Air India staff said next incoming aircraft will be allocated to us and then after some time went back saying it was allocated to another route causing so much uncertainty among passengers. All airlines in India lack customer focus, but Indigo is still the lesser of the evils from my last week experience.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Since his fall out with Rahul Bhatia … This is now Rahul Bhatia's airline and it shows.

This is applicable to everything that Rahul Bhatia is connected with. His aviation software house Interglobe Technologies (Indigo is owned by Interglobe Aviation) taken over by AION is another place where one can see the ‘Rahul Bhatia culture’.

Rahul Bhatia would have gone down the Naresh Goyal path had it not been for Gangwal (IIT and former Vice President at US Airways) who brought in the operational efficiencies of US no-frills carriers to Indigo.

Their current arrogance stems from the fact

(a) they have placed the largest order in commercial aviation history - 500 airbus aircraft in June 23

and

(b) They are the only airline to have ferried 100 million passengers in a year in India - in 2023.

They say pride goes before a fall but currently with demand for seats far exceeding supply, it looks like it would be a while before that happens.

[autobahnjpr]

My brother had a flight yesterday morning at 7 am and I was very apprehensive given the news about delays and chaos. Luckily, his flight departed on time. In Bangalore also due to fog, flights get delayed and once I had to sit in a plane for 3 hours without food, water and aircon waiting for it to take off but somehow only Delhi always gets the attention of media.

Indigo airlines seems to be always connected with such happenings. When the flight gets delayed, their staff is not trained to handle such situations - they mislead, miscommunicate and there is no one to sort out the grievances of the passengers. Some passengers have patience but some lose it after a point.

Flight delays and cancellations are a reality and there are many incidents around the world of total chaos and disarray.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Thing is the volume of passengers boarded in these Airlines is perhaps a mere fraction of what our Indian carriers handle. Basically in India its a problem of simply not being able to handle scale and magnitude.

Oh absolutely. We are a tiny 5million population Country versus 1.5billion. No comparison.

I'm not saying that Air New Zealand are never at fault. They do fumble from time to time. Wellington is know for its Windy weather. Once those gusts crosses 60kmph, there are usually high chances of flight cancellations. The first to ditch flights will be Jet Star. Air New Zealand follows. Then we have a few small local carriers like Sounds Air and Air Chathams who operate smaller aircraft. Qantas and Fiji Air being the only International carriers that operate out of Wellington with flights towards Australia and Fiji. The Airport is a small one though quite busy during certain time windows of the day, with a domestic flight landing or taking of every 10 minutes.

That said, the way the Airline and People conduct themselves are very different. People do get flustered easily and are generally less tolerant (Compared to Indians) but there is no man/woman handling or hurling of abuses as that is simply not tolerated here. The Airlines are generally very Apologetic when any set back happens. There is a fear of the law too. It won't take much for the Airport or Airline Authorities to call the Police if they think a situation is going out of hand. The Police are also incredibly polite (Maybe a bit too much).

[ferrarirules]

I know people are bashing Indigo for unprofessional conduct but i see such behaviour is across airlines. There are no proper updates shared and the passengers are left in the lurch.

I will share the incident which occurred with my cousin brother who flew to Seattle on Lufthansa on 14-Jan-2023 - 3:35 AM IST flight. He was travelling with his wife and 1 year old kid. As the flight was showing on time, we reached the airport at 12:30 AM IST keeping a healthy three hour margin as he was travelling with a kid. There was some fog at the airport but visibility was not hampered at that time. All their formalities were completed by the time we reached back home at 2 AM IST. All was normal till this moment. I went off to sleep.

Now the nightmare starts - I got up in the morning at around 9 AM thinking that they will be about to reach Frankfurt (around 9 hour flying time). To my shock my aunt (chachi) told me that they are still at the runway. I couldn't believe what I heard and immediately fired up Flightradar24 on my phone. And searched LH 761 and lo behold it was standing next to runway at IGI airport waiting for takeoff. I called up my brother to ask what happened, he told that "the boarding started at 3 AM IST and completed on time. Then they taxied to the the runway, they were second in queue for departure when the visibility went down to zero due to fog and the airport was closed". Now the plane sat at the same place for almost 6.5 hours before taking off at 10 AM IST. Now during this time, minimal announcements were made by the crew and no food was served. The food was only served when flight got airborne.

The nightmare didn't end here, they reached Frankfurt and obviously they had missed their connection. Lufthansa booked them on a 16th Jan flight to Seattle as they needed a bassinet seat. My brother wanted to try for the 15-Jan flight so he went to the line handling rescheduling. Despite travelling with an infant, he was not given an priority in the queue, he had to request fellow passengers to move up in the queue which still took 2.5 hrs. He was given a non bassinet seat on 15 Jan flight. Now as the flight was next day, they requested for a transit hotel room. They were told that transit rooms are allocated at 9PM (they landed at 2:30 PM local time). So they had to fend for themselves till that time with a 1 year old kid. My brother found a lounge to sit in and made his kid comfortable. The transit room was allocated at 9PM and he was charged for the room. And he was told to claim the room cost at a later time.

Next day the flight from Frankfurt was 2.5 hours late. But thankfully there was no more drama post that delay.

My brother's feedback - Lufthansa staff was not helpful at all. There was complete lack of communication. Also there was nothing special done for the passenger due to the delays that occurred.

DEL - FRA flight

[akshaymahajan]

A lot of the conversation here applies to all airlines.

Flew from Bangalore to Delhi this Sunday (14th Jan) via Air India.

Original flight time was 9:40 AM which moved to 11:00 AM then 12:30 PM and then 1:45 PM according to the airport terminal screens.

The incoming flight landed at 1:30 PM in Bangalore and boarding finally completed around 2:30 PM.

Pushed back after 20 odd minutes and finally took off at 3:40 PM

Improvement areas
1. An initial delay message would have helped even early n the morning. Would have left for the airport later.
2. 0 updates were sent to me by Air India. One had to constantly look at the screens
3. I assume the multiple changes were due to the uncertainty of when the incoming flight would take off from Delhi. Ideally a one time delay of 6 hours would have been better than different shorter extensions.

Thankfully people seemed to agree that there was little AI could do about the fog and there wasn't any violence.

[srh]

Airlines 'not knowing' and the situation being 'unpredictable' is a blatant lie. If this were true, how is it that passengers are boarded & held for hours inside the plane but the pilots show up on the plane accurately just before the departure would happen? Airlines simply don't pass on relevant information to passengers transparently. Collectively, the airport operator, the security apparatus and the airline have no empathy for the passenger. In the name of security, they try to be 'nannies' to passengers almost bordering harrassment even in normal times.

Indian civil aviation is a rotten system designed to perpetuate shortages and extract 'rents' from passengers.

[MyLife_MyCar]

Fateful day for the Airbus 320 tail number VT-ISV

How many of us know that the two flights in discussion here - 6e2175 (Sahil Kataria case) and 6e2195 (people having dinner on the tarmac) - is the same aircraft Airbus320 with tail number VT-ISV?



Events leading to the two incidents:

1. Only one CAT 3 equipped runway at IGI (Delhi) which is busiest airport in India
2. Fog started creeping in past midnight and hampered visibility for the next 8-10 hours
3. This caused massive disruption in the flight operations that were difficult to manage by any airline. Below is an image of flights in queue at IGI airport
   on 14th Jan
   
4. Amritsar to Delhi flight that was scheduled at 6:05am took off at 11:20am and landed at Delhi at 12:06pm
5. Thus, boarding for 6e2175 started only at around 12:20pm as claimed by a passenger, however, due to long queue of flights on the taxiway, the plane remained at the gate (or maybe due to non-availability of crew member as claimed by a passenger)
6. 6e2175 that was scheduled to take-off from Delhi at 7:40am could only depart at 6pm. This is the flight where Sahil Kataria's incident happened.
7. 6e2195 that was scheduled to return from Goa to Delhi at 10:45am got delayed as incoming aircraft (6e2175) was still at Delhi.
8. 6e2195 finally took off from Goa at 10:06 pm, but due to fog creeping in again at IGI around midnight, it was diverted to Mumbai. This is when people were out on the tarmac and having dinner. Don't know how they were let out and why there was no bus to escort them to the terminal.

I was travelling back from Goa to Delhi on evening of 14th Jan. Fortunately, my flight (6e2029, tail number VT-IUH) was delayed only by 3 hours. Some facts about this flight compared to 6e2195 (VT-ISV):

• 6e2028 (VT-IUH) was scheduled to depart from Delhi to Goa at 4:35pm. However, actual takeoff was at 7:24pm. Hence, 6e2029 (my flight) got delayed by 3 hours.
• Interestingly, 6e2195 that departed earlier than 6e2029 was diverted to Mumbai citing fog conditions, but 6e2029 continued its journey till Delhi.
• Throughout the journey, the sky was as clear as it could be I was able to see all the city lights from the cruising altitude.
• As we approached Delhi, a blanket of fog had engulfed the city, but with more than enough visibility for flight to land safely.
• Hence, the question to Indigo - why was 6e2195 diverted to Mumbai when it could also have safely reached Delhi?

On Sahil Kataria incident hitting the first officer

I can totally understand the frustration of passengers who had to wait for hours inside an aircraft with no clarity on what's going to happen next. More so, when someone is travelling to Goa (excitement level - max) for their honeymoon, as claimed by Sahil (excitement level - ultra pro max), the frustration is natural to happen.

However, it does not give a right to anyone to attack the crew members or pilots. Even a heated verbal argument with them should not be encouraged. Please understand that they are just doing their duty which is of critical nature and it is important for them to stay calm and composed in case any emergency situation arises.
Imagine the mental state of the first officer after that drama. Flying an aircraft is not as easy as it looks and, as many of us would know, take off and landing are the crucial phases of any flight.. I would never want any crew member to be disturbed by any incident when they are operating a plane.

Much has already been discussed here on what airlines should do / have done in these situation. Hence, I'll not add anything further, but mostly due to the fact that the new guidelines laid down by our minister are still a grey area and do not seem to be efficient in handling such future incidents.

[DroopyGarfield]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Delhi has faced fog for 7 weeks each year since times immemorial. The fact that clogging in Delhi has a cascading effect on most flights across the country has been known since civil aviation came of age in India in 1950s.

I don't expect anything to change too soon. Thanks to Twitter (X) matters get escalated and spread like wildfire providing some pressure on the bureaucrats and politicos to do something even if late. If Twitter had not been there even this minimal sense of urgency would be lacking.

* Bureau of Civil Aviation Security

I have a question since I have seen a surge in such negative news for the last few weeks - what is forcing customers to report so many anomalies in public domain suddenly?

1. Did AAI/DIAL miss the usual maintenance window for CAT III equipped runway and it threw everything into a mess for Indigo/Air India et al for flights originating in Delhi?
Implication - it is a temporary glitch and things would return to normalcy soon.

2. Did Indigo really throw out all caution out of window and went for penny pinching in all critical operational areas facing customers?
Implication - this decay in standards is permanent and cultural rot is here to stay.

3. What is the reason AI/Vistara/SpiceJet delays are not making the news so frequently? Nowadays, I am reading 1 celeb post per day criticizing Indigo flights and wondering if Indigo are really beyond redemption?
Implication - is this something that AI/Vistara/other airline customers are not facing when planning for critical flights for important events.


You also seem to imply your loyality shift to Vistara/AI, wanted to understand if this decay in standards is permanent.

[SidTheChamp]

The level of frustration can pile up till to a breaking point. 10 hours of waiting for the passengers and to top it all the airline crew gave false reasons as per other co-passengers. And when it's a special occasion or one has dependents patience goes away completely. That's what happened to Sahil Kataria who was going on honeymoon with his wife and frustrated to the limit.

Could Indigo have done better. Yes, manage crew time better. Because crew have fixed working hours during delayed flights, they are struggling with replacement crew causing further delay. Adapt to the extreme situation.

I have once taken a 3 AM flight scheduled to depart at 7-30 AM. It was Air India. They keep giving false promises one after another like will start after 30 mins, 1 hour etc. Seen first hand how miscommunication can flare up flight passengers to absolute rage