Mumbai: Bareilly passengers left stranded

Hundreds of air passengers were left stranded midway as their Bareillybound Indigo flight from Mumbai was cancelled due to inclement weather After a chaotic situation on Friday morning the airline agreed to accommodate them in a Delhibound flight but failed to reroute the passengers to their final destination The stranded passengers told midday that they had been left with no choice but to spend from their own pockets to either make a night stay in Delhi or hire a cab to reach Bareilly both of which are expensiveVasaibased Hoshiyarsingh Dasoni who was travelling to Bareilly on flight 6E5316 told midday ldquoIt was rescheduled to take off at 1135 am but Indigo officials announced at the last minute that the flight had been cancelledrdquoAccording to Dasoni he had to reach Bareilly in time to catch a train to Nainital and bring back his children to Mumbai ldquoBut this has turned into such a messy situation Indigo has sent all the passengers to Delhi instead of Bareillyrdquo he saidDasoni had to spend from his pocket to reach a hotel in Delhi and for the overnight stay while his children awaited him in Nainital ldquoI have spent nearly R8000 unnecessarily in Delhi Who will bear the cost My connecting train and flight tickets back to Mumbai are also useless now Above all my children are waiting for arrival in Nainitalrdquo he addedAnother passenger Arjun Mehta expressed his frustration over the turn of events ldquoOur family was scheduled to reach Uttarakhand on December 30 for a puja in the morning I was travelling with my wife son and daughterinlaw for the same Around 5 am we got a message stating that the flight scheduled for Bareilly at 1105 am will be delayed and will depart at 1135 am We reached the airport accordingly and were waiting to check in But around 1030 am an announcement was made stating that our flight was delayed further and would depart at 1240 pmrdquo he saidAccording to Mehta the airline provided refreshments since the flight was delayed ldquoIdli chutney was arranged for us around 1030 am when the announcement of our flight delay was made After having breakfast we returned to our designated gate waiting for the boarding announcement Around 1100 am the airline announced that the flight was cancelled and we had an option of either taking a refund or taking a flight to Delhi which was scheduled to depart at 230 pm Many who were not in a rush opted for a refund but we had to reach Uttarakhand so we opted for the flight to DelhirdquoMehta had booked a car from Bareilly airport to pick up the family He had to cancel the booking and book another car from Delhi airport to reach their destination ldquoThis is a complete goofup by the airline When we asked about the transport options from Delhi airport the airlines crew said that we had to travel at our own expense This is unacceptable We had booked a ticket to Bareilly and we were dropped off at Delhirdquo lamented MehtaRajesh Agarwal another passenger said ldquoI was travelling with my wife and two kids We reached the airport around 8 am to board the flight Around 1015 am an announcement was made that our flight was further delayed till 1240 pm Breakfast was arranged for Later it was announced that our flight to Bareilly had been cancelled The airlinersquos representative told us to either opt for a refund or take the flight to Delhi at 230 pm We had to reach Uttarakhand urgently and so couldnrsquot afford to take the refund and book another ticketrdquoDelhi flight also delayedMeanwhile the flight scheduled for Delhi was also delayed causing even more frustration among the passengers Agarwal said that the flight to Delhi was delayed for an hour ldquoWe were assured that the flight would depart at 230 pm but it departed at 330 pm instead We reached Delhi airport around 600 pm and had to take a taxi at our own expense for our journey onward My kids were very frustrated and exhausted by all this and now we will have to travel by road the entire nightrdquo he said adding that they will reach Uttarakhand around 7 am today It takes around 10 hours to travel by road from Delhi airport to UttarakhandExpert SpeakAviation expert K V J Rao said ldquoWhenever a flight is delayed by more than two hours it is the responsibility of airlines to ensure the passengers reach their destination The way they have amended the tickets and altered the routes the airline should have made the arrangements to make them fly from Delhi to Bareilly It is the responsibility of the airline or else the airline is liable to compensate themrdquoAccording to Rao if the passengers were left stranded in Delhi by the airline it clearly reflects a deficiency in service ldquoIf the flight is cancelled or delayed due to inclement weather reschedule the flight or reroute the ticketsrdquo Rao told middayldquoIt is really very shocking to learn that the passengers have been left midway What if a passenger had to attend a court case and she has been slapped with a monetary fine for not attending the court proceeding Who will bear this monetary fine for the error of an airlinerdquo he wondered ldquoSo it is the total responsibility of the airline to ensure passengers reach their destination They cannot be left stranded midwayrdquoActivist SpeakAn aviation rights activist Advocate Yashwant Shenoy said ldquoPassengers are always the lsquolosersrsquo in India The DGCA is controlled by airlines and will never come to the passengersrsquo rescue The commuter at maximum can file a lawsuit against the airline in the consumer court for demanding compensation for their loss of valuable time and the trouble caused to them by the airline No passenger would willingly fight a decadelong battle in courts to claim a few thousand which is why airlines tend to exploit their passengers more and morerdquo He added that there are no stringent rules for inconveniences caused to the passengers by an airlineIndiGo flight 6E 5316 from Bombay to Bareilly was cancelled due to bad weather in Bareilly The passengers were served with refreshments and options to reschedule or cancel their flights with refunds We regret the inconvenience caused to all our passengers IndiGo Airlines official saidTwoNo of times flight was delayed before cancellation