Overseas passengers stranded in Mumbai

Mumbai: Gesine Adam from Germany had Rs. 100 in her purse on Saturday. A bottle of water at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport costs Rs. 30. A phone call back home would cost her Rs. 40. Waiting outside the departure terminal, Gesine was among the hundreds of passengers stranded at the airport, after flights to Europe, the U.S. and Canada were grounded owing to vast clouds of volcanic ash over the European airspace.
Gesine and her friend Briggitte Hirschegger from Austria were waiting since Friday night for their Lufthansa flight. “We have no money. The terminal has no Internet connectivity, no restaurants. And, it has a very expensive telephone booth. We had biscuits and water at night. A stay in the Mumbai hotels is expensive, so we slept at the airport. We faced much difficulty just to come out of the airport and breathe fresh air,” she said.
“Our flight was re-scheduled at 6 a.m. on Saturday. But in the morning they told us it's delayed again. We have no food, no water, no information,” said Briggitte, who was travelling with her teenage son.
According to a spokesperson of the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), 15 departures and nine arrivals were cancelled on Friday night, adding, “Airlines have made necessary arrangements for passengers.”
Praveen Bhupia, a non-resident Indian (NRI) from London and travelling Jet Airways would strongly disagree. He was livid that the airport authorities charged him Rs. 60 for a seat in the waiting area. “I have made my own arrangements. They [airline] have been very unhelpful. There is no help with accommodation. Customer service is zero. I came to India for a holiday; it was a good holiday, until now.”
More than amenities the thing the travellers desired the most was information.
Passengers continued calling the customer support numbers in vain. Many have anxious families and jobs to get back to. An airport staff told The Hindu that the airlines themselves had no information to pass on, unless the update was conveyed from the European and other authorities.
18/04/10 The Hindu

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Categories: Airports Apr 2010, Foreign Apr 2010