IndiGo under fire for offboarding passengers from Bengaluru-Chennai flight, apologises

The airline's on ground staff offered overnight accommodation to the passengers but some chose to stay at the airport lounge, the airline said.

Private carrier IndiGo on Tuesday said its passengers on a Chennai bound flight from Karnataka capital Bengaluru were offboarded and put on different planes because of a “lack of time” issue. This comes after several media reports that the airline “tricked” the passengers off the plane as it did not want to fly with only eight on board.

This comes after several media reports that the airline “tricked” the passengers off the plane as it did not want to fly with only eight on board. (HT)

The flight 6E 478, came in from Amritsar to Bengaluru on Sunday and was supposed to go on to Chennai, however, with only eight passengers for the Chennai leg of the flight, staffers reportedly called the flyers and told them there was another flight ready to depart to the Tamil Nadu capital. However, the eight passengers were kept overnight and only flown to their destination on Monday morning.

The airline's on ground staff offered overnight accommodation to the passengers but some chose to stay at the airport lounge, the airline said, as quoted by news agency PTI. However, a report stated the airline did not arrange accommodation and that two of the passengers stayed at a hotel that was 13 kilometres away from the airport. Hindustan Times was unable to verify this information independently.

The airline apologised for the incident and said in a statement, “Due to the delay of the incoming aircraft from Amritsar, these passengers were unable to board the onward flight to Chennai at the Bengaluru airport. IndiGo ground staff made every possible effort to help passengers make the connection, but due to lack of time, they were unable to board the aircraft. We deeply apologise for the inconvenience caused to the passengers.”

The aircraft was changed for the travel to Chennai due to “operational reasons” because of which the passengers had to deboard, an official told the agency.

(With inputs from PTI)