Fliers To Doha Stranded, Children Among Them

Mumbai: An IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Qatar’s Doha has been delayed with passengers alleging that they waited inside the aircraft for nearly five hours. The passengers claimed they were eventually asked to deboard the plane — which was scheduled to take off at 3:55 am — and were taken to the immigration waiting area at the Mumbai airport due to some “technical issue” with the aircraft.

About 250 to 300 passengers are reportedly stranded at the airport.

“We were not allowed to deboard the plane because immigration was over,” a passenger, who was flying with his wife and a child, told NDTV.

“They allowed us to wait in a holding area after we fought with them. No official is talking to us,” he alleged.

Another flyer said that they were not given any water or food.

“It is a chaos over here. People are worried as their jobs are at risk. Passengers are waiting with their children,” he said.

There was no official statement from IndiGo. However, the airline responded to a user on X, who alleged that the flight to Doha was “stuck” at Mumbai Airport due to a “technical problem”.

“The immigration authority is not giving permission to offload the passengers,” the flyer wrote on X, to which the airline said it “sincerely regrets the inconvenience”.

Hi, we sincerely regret the inconvenience. We request you to kindly share your contact number via DM so we may connect with you over a call. ~Laurette https://t.co/xcJPAig2qK

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) September 15, 2024

Earlier Saturday, passengers of a SpiceJet flight going from Delhi to Bihar’s Darbhanga had a heated exchange with the airline officials after the airline allegedly canceled the flight five minutes before boarding. They were waiting to board SpiceJet flight No. SG 495.

Some of the passengers who have been flying on the Delhi-Darbhanga route alleged the airline has been canceling flights on this route frequently for the last few months.

The airline hasn’t issued a statement on the matter yet.