As their luggage piles up and is yet to be sorted as per the schedules, passengers wonder when they will get it back; with fares on alternate airlines soaring, many passengers are stranded or seeking costly road options.
Baggage from cancelled flights waiting to be sorted and claimed at Mumbai airport’s Terminal 2. PICS BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
With a total of 117 flights from Mumbai, and 46 from Pune, cancelled till Saturday following the IndiGo debacle, passengers left in the lurch are turning angry, especially with baggage delays and mix-ups.
Passengers are now angry at the airline for the delay that is happening with baggage claim as well, with the crew facing the difficulty of sorting out thousands of bags according to flight schedules. An IndiGo ground staffer, requesting anonymity told Sunday mid-day, “At first the bags were sorted out as they were taken out of the flights, but in the last few days as the number of cancellations has grown, it has become a complete mess. The ground staff are also helping the crew, even facing some physically abusive passengers. We understand their anger and urgency, and hope that they realise that we do not control the flights completely, and are doing the best we can.”
“After having over a year of time for IndiGo to prepare, it is shocking how the failure has happened to this extent,” said KVJ Rao, a former pilot. Passengers who have had their flights cancelled and are looking at flights from other airlines are seeing high fares with some routes costing over '70,000 one way. Air India and Air India Express had faced backlash since December 4 with many passengers trying to book flights for routes like Mumbai to Pune, seeing fares as high as '60,000.
Owing to this, an Air India spokesperson said, “Air India & Air India Express clarify that, since December 4, economy class airfares on non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the demand-and-supply mechanism being applied.” Two passengers at Mumbai airport whose Bengaluru flight was cancelled, said, “We are looking at alternatives like going by road in a cab which is costing us around '70,000. While expensive, it is still cheaper than going by flight at this point.”
Passengers Speak
Rahul Mehta
Who was to travel to Delhi on December 5, after learning that his flight had been cancelled, said, “I am here at the airport again only to collect my bags; they have been saying that we will get it soon, and keep extending the time saying 1 hour, 2 hours, but we are seeing no result.”
Vedant Rammani
Pune student studying in Rajasthan, shared his ordeal: “Our semester exams ended on December 3. All students who had booked IndiGo flights were stuck in hostels. I was supposed to fly on Friday night, but I too got a cancellation message. Alternate options are priced extremely high. Our parents are worried, too.”
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