One of the country’s worst aviation crisis in years entered its sixth day on Sunday with confusion persisting among passengers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport as IndiGo cancelled 118 flights till 8 pm, including departures and arrivals. From lost medicines and missing documents to emergencies trips and upcoming shows, the various tales from passengers made clear the impact of the chaos, which began Tuesday.
Throughout the day, crowds could be seen at the airline’s ticket counter in Terminal-1, as passengers, whose flights were no longer leaving or had been delayed for hours, waited for information, tried to get rescheduled, or demanded refunds. Others were still trying to track down their luggage, which they had checked days ago.
Several people who had connecting flights through Delhi told HT that they had been stuck in the Capital because of the prevailing situation.
27-year-old Irom Kumar, who was waiting in line at the counter, said he had a return flight for Imphal on Thursday but it was cancelled.
“I had gone to Goa for a trip, and was returning to my home in Imphal, via Delhi. The flight was supposed to take off from here on Thursday, but it was cancelled. I have been stuck here for three days now.
He is now staying at a hotel, which has proved “very expensive” for him. “This situation is also very difficult as I do not speak Hindi, and have no relatives or friends who live in this city,” Kumar added.
39-year-old Nilesh Rajadhyaksha said he was travelling because of an emergency — his uncle in Mumbai had been hospitalised — but said he still doesn’t know when he would be able to travel to see him.
“I had a flight at 5:30 am this morning, which got cancelled, and the replacement flight for that, at 12:30, also got cancelled. Now, I have managed to get a flight at 6:30 pm, but who knows if that will also get cancelled,” he said, standing at the counter.
Other passengers who had also managed to get their flights rescheduled also expressed the same uncertainty. Among them was 35-year-old mentalist Narpath Raman, who had come to Delhi for a show and has another scheduled for Monday, in Bangalore.
“My 4:45 pm flight to Bangalore today was cancelled, and the replacement I’ve gotten is a 5:45 am flight tomorrow morning to Tirupathi, and a 12:50 flight from there to Bangalore,” he told HT. “It will be extremely tight, but I’ll have to try and make it work. However, I do feel that I am in a better situation than others here, as many of them have been stuck for days.”
One woman from Bangladesh, requesting anonymity, said they were due to return soon but have yet to find their bags. “My husband and I came from Dhaka to attend a wedding in Jaipur, but when our connecting Indigo flight from Delhi landed in Jaipur, one of our three suitcases was missing. We need to get it back as it is an extremely expensive Rimowa suitcase, worth ₹4 lakh.
We have to return to Dhaka today, and are worried that we will have to return without it,” she added, explaining how, while she and her husband were in Jaipur, their friends from Gurugram had come to the airport to try and search for the luggage, but to no avail.
Near the arrivals area, long lines of suitcases populated the floor as hundreds of baggage that had been checked in had yet to make it back to their owners. Outside the gates, small queues had formed as bag-owners waited to enter. They said they had been told by IndigGo staff to come to the spot to collect their luggage.
Security staff at the gates were letting in groups of people one by one, after checking their IDs and boarding passes. People and airport staff could be seen reading tags and examining the suitcases, trying to identify the right bags.
42-year-old Dheeraj Chaudhary was in the queue outside with a friend. “We were supposed to fly to Goa on Thursday at 8:20 pm, for a holiday, but were misinformed by staff that the flight had been cancelled, and were escorted out. However, the flight flew, along with our luggage which we had already checked in.”
Laughing, he said, “Our suitcases went on our holiday without us.”
On Friday, they spent 7 hours looking for their bags but weren’t able to locate them. “Yesterday evening, we got a call from the Goa airport that our bags were there, and were being sent back, so here we are.”
In the mess, passengers have lost valuables and other important items they need in their daily lives. “My Thursday flight to Chennai was cancelled, but I still haven’t found my checked in luggage. It had documents and medicine, which I need right now as I currently have a fever. There has been no response from IndiGo’s site, and I need to travel again tomorrow, which I cannot do without my luggage,” said 21-year-old Anjali.
39-year-old Adil Khan said his suitcase contained important business documents. “My flight to Mumbai on December 1 left my luggage behind. I was going there for a business meeting, and without the documents it was pointless for me to go there so I had to cut the trip short and return. Now I am trying to find it, but haven’t for the past 6 days, as even the online tracker doesn’t show any status.”
