An Air India flight. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Air India has apologised and offered a travel voucher of $350 each to the passengers of the San Francisco flight that took off from the national capital after a delay of more than 30 hours.

There were 199 passengers in the flight, according to a source.

After a delay of over 30 hours, the flight took off from the national capital at 9:55 p.m. on Friday and landed at San Francisco at 12:45 p.m. (IST) on Saturday. The flight duration was around 16 hours.

“Please allow me to sincerely apologise, on behalf of Air India, for the extended delay in bringing you to San Francisco, which was caused by several technical delays and other operational constraints,” Air India Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Klaus Goersch said in a letter to the flight’s passengers.

As a gesture of apology, Air India has offered a “travel voucher worth $350” for future travel with the airline, the letter dated May 31 said.

The passengers will also have the option to credit the amount instead of using it for travel.

“We are very sorry for this lapse in our service and the inconvenience caused to you,” Mr. Goersch said in the letter.

The Delhi-San Francisco flight that was originally scheduled to take off at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday faced an inordinate delay due to various factors, including technical glitch, non-functional air-conditioning system, and payload issues.

On Friday, aviation regulator DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India for some flight delays and failure to take due care of the passengers.

In the show cause notice, the watchdog mentioned the inordinate delay of two international flights – AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24.

New Delhi:

Airport operators and airlines have to be customer-oriented and making passengers wait for eight hours, be in a plane or the terminal, is unacceptable, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said.

Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, Mr Scindia said he was only reinforcing the message sent in December 2022. Customers, he added, should be kept abreast of developments and given a choice to continue their flight or not, whatever problems the airline is facing.

The minister’s comments come in the backdrop of the 20-hour delay in a San Francisco-bound Air India flight yesterday, that saw passengers being made to wait inside an aircraft despite the absence of air-conditioning. Amid the unprecedented heat wave currently on in the national capital, many passengers were taken ill.

Visuals from the airport showed many passengers lying down along an aerobridge corridor. Others complained about fainting inside the plane. The plane finally took off at 3 pm today. The airline has received a showcause notice from the ministry.

“If the flight delay extends beyond a period of time, then you must cancel the flight and reschedule and thereby alleviate the sufferings of passengers,” the minister told NDTV today.

“If any passenger has to wait for eight hours — and mind you the time is enough for a Mumbai-London flight or a Delhi-London flight — waiting inside the aircraft with no air-conditioning or waiting inside the terminal with no facilities, unfortunately that is unacceptable to me,” he added.

New Delhi:

A passenger of an Air India flight alleged some people fainted inside the aircraft, which had no air-conditioning, after a delay of over eight hours.

Shweta Punj, a journalist, in a post on X, said flight No. AI 183 was later by over eight hours, and “people were made to board the plane and sit without air-conditioning” at Delhi airport.

She said the passengers were then told to exit the aircraft after some of them fainted.

Delhi is experiencing a severe heatwave, with the temperature reaching a record 52.9 degree Celsius on Wednesday.

“If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is Air India. DGCA [aviation regulator] AI 183 flight has been delayed for over eight hours, passengers were made to board the plane without air-conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight. This is inhuman,” Ms Punj said in the post on X, tagging Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is @airindia@DGCAIndia AI 183 flight has been delayed for over 8 hours , passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight.This is inhuman! @JM_Scindiapic.twitter.com/86KpaOAbgb

— Shweta Punj (@shwwetapunj) May 30, 2024

The Air India X handle responded to her: “Dear Ms. Punj, we truly regret to note the disruptions. Please be rest assured that our team is actively working to address the delay and appreciate your ongoing support and understanding. We are also alerting our team to provide necessary assistance to the passengers.”

Another passenger, Abhishek Sharma, appealed to the airline for swift action and drew its attention to let his parents and “numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area [to] go home”.

@airindia please let mine and the numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area go home!

AI 183 is over 8 hrs late. People were made to board the plane and sit without ac. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done#inhumanpic.twitter.com/0XdDBAovBK

— Abhishek Sharma (@39Abhishek) May 30, 2024

“AI 183 is over eight hours late. People were made to board the plane and sit without AC. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done,” Mr Sharma said in a post on X.

The Air India X bot handle replied to Mr Sharma with the same message that it responded to Ms Punj.

Visuals posted by many other passengers show people including children sitting on the floor, and some have taken off their shoes. They appear exhausted.

In January, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued guidelines to handle chaotic situations after a huge rush was seen due to fog at Delhi airport. The DGCA in the standard operating procedure (SOP) for “facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”, said that airlines may cancel flights that are likely to be delayed or “consequentially delayed” beyond three hours. The DGCA had said all airlines must follow the SOP immediately.