Jet lags in city for 15 hrs, 159 fliers grounded

Mumbai: A dream European holiday began disastrously for 74 passengers of Qatar Airways who got detained at Mumbai airport for 15 hours after their aircraft developed a technical snag.
The exasperated travellers said the airline did not offer them accommodation until three hours before their next boarding. Finally, the flight left at 9pm on Thursday.
The flight, which was to leave for Doha at 5:55am on Thursday, had 256 passengers on board, including the holiday-makers in two batches. One group of 74 tourists was booked with Cox & Kings. Another group of 67 was booked with SOTC. While the airline arranged for the SOTC passengers to board a Jet Airways flight to London, it failed to send the group of 74 or any of the remaining passengers on the next British Airways flight, on the plea that seats were limited.
Initially, takeoff was delayed for two hours. But in the evening passengers were told that they would be able to board at 9pm on Thursday, after a delay of 15 hours. “We were treated very shabbily,” said Tanveer Shah, 37, who spent Rs7.5 lakh on the holiday.
04/05/07 Manisha Singhal/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports May 2007, Foreign May 2007