Irate Passengers Ridicule four hours of Indigo Torture, Discourteous Staff

Chennai: It was a physical and mental torture that stretched for over four hours and into the wee hours of Wednesday for more than 100 passengers of Indigo Airlines at the Chennai Airport. The “waiting” ordeal was made worse by the rude behaviour of the airlines staff.

Flight No. 6E 0341 from Chennai to Hyderabad that was scheduled to take-off at 9:30 pm on Tuesday reached Hyderabad around 3.30 am on Wednesday.

Many passengers, travelling to various destinations, fumed that though they were issued boarding passes from 6 pm onwards, the authorities did not inform them of the flight delays.

Priyanka Gupta, corporate employee, said, “It was total chaos. The airline officials failed to provide any information. They could have informed those waiting at the Chennai airport. Four hours delay for the shortest destination is a lot of time.”

Maddineni Ramanjaneyulu, another passenger, explained, “There will be delays in flights but here the airlines was reluctant to provide proper information. The board kept changing the arrival time every hour.” He added that several passengers were elderly people and some were sick.

“The authorities did not even bother to provide water, leave alone food. The airline staff was not even polite with the already anguished passengers. Each time a new face would come and announce that the flight was delayed further. We have faced delays by other airlines too but at least the staff is polite and provides food and relaxing space.”

Manjunatha V. from Bangaluru, who arrived in the Chennai-Hyderabad flight, said, “I landed at around 3.30 am and reached the hotel at 4.30 am. I ended up paying Rs 1,700 to the cab for what was a short distance. Imagine the fate of my fellow-passengers whose destinations were far-off? There were many women and they must have found it tough to reach home.”

He added, “We requested the airlines to provide transport to those in need, particularly given the time. They were not even bothered to hear our plight. People were hungry and tired. It was horrifying.”