Mumbai: It was an almost 18-hour ordeal for 300 passengers booked on an Air India (AI) flight to Riyadh on Sunday morning. Facing a crew constraint, the airline rescheduled the flight at the eleventh hour, leaving flyers in the lurch. The flight was supposed to depart at 2.50am, but left only at 8.30pm. The flyers, however, were informed about the delay only after they had checked in.
Flight AI 921 was supposed to take off from Mumbai at 2.50am for Riyadh and flyers checked in around midnight. While they were waiting to board the plane, they were told the flight had been delayed. Till that time, they didn't know the long wait that was to follow.
Around 2am, the flyers were told the airline was facing a shortage of pilots and that the flight had been scheduled for 8.30pm.
24/12/12 Times of India
