It was a tiring Tuesday for 130 passengers of Jet Airways’ 9W466 flight from Chennai to Mumbai. The plane that was scheduled to take off at 7.40 am and reach Mumbai at around 10 am, was delayed by over three hours for two alleged reasons — pilot not showing up on time and a passenger requesting to deboard the flight.
After reaching Mumbai at 1.05 pm, the passengers were informed that all five star hotels in the suburbs were booked. At around 5 pm, the airline finally managed to get hotel rooms near the airport for the tired passengers.
Nandkumar, one of the aggrieved passengers and leader of a delegation to London, said he got many SMSes from the airline in the wee hours of Tuesday that the flight was on time and they must report at the airport before 7 am.
“At around 7 am, we saw a couple of buses ferrying the passengers to the aircraft but were suddenly informed that the pilot had not reported for duty. After waiting patiently, we finally boarded the aircraft at around 10 am.
But our ordeal was far from over as one of the passengers insisted to be offloaded as he had missed his business appointment in Mumbai owing to the delay. Then, all the passengers were told to deboard the flight because of one person. The flight finally took off at 11 am, after a delay of three hours,” said Nandkumar.
02/12/15 Shailesh Bhatia/Mid Day
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After reaching Mumbai at 1.05 pm, the passengers were informed that all five star hotels in the suburbs were booked. At around 5 pm, the airline finally managed to get hotel rooms near the airport for the tired passengers.
Nandkumar, one of the aggrieved passengers and leader of a delegation to London, said he got many SMSes from the airline in the wee hours of Tuesday that the flight was on time and they must report at the airport before 7 am.
“At around 7 am, we saw a couple of buses ferrying the passengers to the aircraft but were suddenly informed that the pilot had not reported for duty. After waiting patiently, we finally boarded the aircraft at around 10 am.
But our ordeal was far from over as one of the passengers insisted to be offloaded as he had missed his business appointment in Mumbai owing to the delay. Then, all the passengers were told to deboard the flight because of one person. The flight finally took off at 11 am, after a delay of three hours,” said Nandkumar.
02/12/15 Shailesh Bhatia/Mid Day