Richa Chadha on being stranded for 18 hours: It was a nightmare

Richa Chadha on being stranded at Abu Dhabi airport enroute to LA for 18 hours following a thunderstorm

Richa Chadha

Richa Chadha was enroute to Los Angeles from Mumbai on Saturday but found herself stranded at the Abu Dhabi airport due to bad weather. The actress, along with co-passengers, landed to safety after a thunderstorm prevented the flight from reaching its destination, but was later informed that onward connecting flights had been cancelled.

Richa's spokesperson told mid-day, "There was panic among travellers, who wanted to get on to the next flight. There were many Indians, especially women with kids, and senior citizens."

With little help and no communication from the airline staff for close to four hours, passengers were compelled to sleep on the floor after the lounge chairs were all occupied. "It was the airlines' responsibility. Richa was fortunate to have access to aerotel [transit hotel], which other passengers did not. She took to social media [to highlight the matter]."

Richa reached out to Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, and also tweeted to the airlines, asking for intervention. While the minister didn't respond, the carrier decided to act. Richa says, "It was a nightmare. I did my best to help with whatever I could. With my credit card, I bought water bottles for people, who didn't have the local currency. I wish the airline handled the situation better. I felt terrible to see a lot of senior citizens and mothers traveling with infants going through such ordeal."

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