Kolkata: Passengers booked on a morning SpiceJet flight to north Bengal on Sunday had a harrowing time after the 45-minute journey from Kolkata to Bagdogra ended up taking more than 12 hours — at least an hour more than what it takes for a train, like Darjeeling Mail, to reach New Jalpaiguri from Sealdah under normal circumstances. During the period, flyers had to sit in the aircraft for over two hours, waiting for it to take off, before being asked to wait at the security hold area of Kolkata airport for several hours. The reason cited by the airline for the delay was low visibility at Bagdogra airport and inadequate operating crew.
The flight — SG 3321 — was slated to take off at 6.05am on Sunday and land at 6.50am. It finally reached the destination around 7pm on Sunday.Most of the 78 passengers booked on the flight had reported to the airport by 4am since the boarding time was scheduled at 5.45am.
However, the boarding kept getting delayed and the flyers were finally allowed to board around 6.30am.
It then took off from Kolkata. However, halfway into the journey, the flight turned back as crew members announced that the aircraft was unable to land due to poor visibility at Bagdogra. It landed in Kolkata at 7.15am. “We were told the flight will resume its journey once the situation got better and we were seated inside as it stood on the tarmac for two hours, till 9.30am. Then an announcement was made that the flight had been delayed and the aircraft was taken to a parking bay and we were asked to get off,” said Sharmishtha Mondal, one of the passengers.
Once they had alighted, passengers were sent text messages about the flight being delayed further. “First, we were told the flight will take off at 11.45am. Then we received another message, informing us that the revised timing was 3.20pm and lastly, there was a message that said the flight would take off at 5.20pm. All the while, the reason they cited was bad weather in Bagdogra. However, we personally checked from people staying in Bagdogra and north Bengal that the weather had improved from 9.30am itself. In fact, a Vistara flight had landed at Bagdogra at 9.37am on Sunday,” Mondal added. A resident of Baruipur, Mondal had started from her home at 1am and had been waiting at the airport since 3am.
The flight finally took off at 5.45pm and reached Bagdogra around 6.45pm, by when it had already turned dark and the flyers who had expected an early start to their vacations rued the loss of an entire day.
20/01/20 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
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The flight — SG 3321 — was slated to take off at 6.05am on Sunday and land at 6.50am. It finally reached the destination around 7pm on Sunday.Most of the 78 passengers booked on the flight had reported to the airport by 4am since the boarding time was scheduled at 5.45am.
However, the boarding kept getting delayed and the flyers were finally allowed to board around 6.30am.
It then took off from Kolkata. However, halfway into the journey, the flight turned back as crew members announced that the aircraft was unable to land due to poor visibility at Bagdogra. It landed in Kolkata at 7.15am. “We were told the flight will resume its journey once the situation got better and we were seated inside as it stood on the tarmac for two hours, till 9.30am. Then an announcement was made that the flight had been delayed and the aircraft was taken to a parking bay and we were asked to get off,” said Sharmishtha Mondal, one of the passengers.
Once they had alighted, passengers were sent text messages about the flight being delayed further. “First, we were told the flight will take off at 11.45am. Then we received another message, informing us that the revised timing was 3.20pm and lastly, there was a message that said the flight would take off at 5.20pm. All the while, the reason they cited was bad weather in Bagdogra. However, we personally checked from people staying in Bagdogra and north Bengal that the weather had improved from 9.30am itself. In fact, a Vistara flight had landed at Bagdogra at 9.37am on Sunday,” Mondal added. A resident of Baruipur, Mondal had started from her home at 1am and had been waiting at the airport since 3am.
The flight finally took off at 5.45pm and reached Bagdogra around 6.45pm, by when it had already turned dark and the flyers who had expected an early start to their vacations rued the loss of an entire day.
20/01/20 Tamaghna Banerjee/Times of India
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