Two Indore flights take off even as several travelers are left behind because of logistical problems
Two Indore flights take off even as several travelers are left behind because of logistical problems
Perhaps for a few brief moments on the morning of April 5, Praneet Tulshyan could appreciate the predicament of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. Tulshyan was one among 22 passengers who were left behind by two GoAir flights from Indore, despite reaching the airport well on time.
On that day two GoAir flights were scheduled for the morning, one from Indore to Delhi at 7.10 am and another from Indore to Mumbai atu00a0 7.15 am. Twenty-one-year-old Praneet Tulshyan, who is doing an animation course from Mumbai, was trying to catch a return trip from his hometown Indore and was scheduled to board the GoAir flight G8 222. "I reached the airport at 6.15am and was in queue for check-in. There were two GoAir flights operating in the morning. The total passenger load was about 340 people.
There were only two people at the check-in counter handling both flights simultaneously. By the time I reached the end of the queue, they said the counter had been closed. There were around 40 people after me and we all requested the ground staff to delay the flight by 10-15 minutes and let us get on board. The check-in personnel denied the same and most of us were left behind."
Tulshyan had to attend an important training session in Mumbai but unfortunately he could not make it. "We were told that each passenger would be charged Rs 750 for cancellation or for rescheduling. My flight cost was Rs 1600. Why should I pay half of the amount for cancellation, and that too because of a problem at their end? I requested them to put me on the next Kingfisher flight at 8.40am. The airfare for this flight was Rs 3,600. Being a student, I did not have that kind of cash in hand to purchase another ticket."
According to the passengers, the airport authority was not ready to help. "After an hour of argument the airlines agreed to refund us the complete fare. However, this does not compensate for people who have missed their important meetings or classes," said Tulshyan.
GoAir admitted that 22 passengers were left behind but they said it happened because of system failure. "Since the traffic has risen considerably and the airport authority not being co-operative enough, 22 passengers were left behind. Out of these, three passengers came late so they had to pay Rs 750 each as cancellation charges. But the remaining 19 passengers were reimbursed the total amount of the ticket fare," said the statement from the airlines.
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