The flight was delayed by three hours.
Passengers on a recent SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Bengaluru were unhappy with the way they were treated during the boarding procedure. The flight was late, but more than the delay, it was the airline’s decision to lock passengers inside the boarding area for more than an hour that made them angry.
Confined
On January 10th, passengers of a SpiceJet flight from Delhi (DEL) to Bengaluru (BLR) were made to wait in the aerobridge for more than an hour due to a delay. Flight SG8133 has a scheduled departure time of 14:00, but passengers were initially told that the flight would take off at 15:15.
A passenger described the incident on social media, saying that SpiceJet started the boarding process at 15:00. However, once inside the aerobridge, travelers were not allowed to proceed further beyond a point and also not allowed to leave the aerobridge.
Stuck between two closed doors, many passengers, including senior citizens, got visibly upset. A video posted by one of the travelers shows people banging on the transparent doors asking the airline staff for water. They were denied to move back to the waiting area and were confined there for more than an hour.
The passenger claims that the airline told them to ask for water once inside the plane but failed to tell them when the flight would depart. The aircraft finally took off at 17:01, three hours after the scheduled departure time.
Photo: BoeingMan777 | Shutterstock
SpiceJet clarifies
The airline has explained that the delay was due to the crew exceeding their duty time following a weather disruption. It said that because the passengers had already gone through the security check for boarding, they were made to wait inside the aerobridge. An airline spokesperson was quoted as saying,
“The incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru and crew was arranged from another incoming flight. On average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport, while on this particular flight the turnaround time was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time. As passengers had completed the security check, they were requested to wait at the aerobridge … All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers”
While delays due to reasons beyond the airline’s control are understandable, passengers on this particular flight were left fuming for the way they were treated by SpiceJet. Hopefully, the airline can avoid such a situation in the future.
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