IndiGo chaos at IGI: Flight snarls and missing luggage irk stranded passengers

For the last few days, passengers across the country have complained about missing baggage, with many venting their frustration out on social media.

IndiGo’s continued delays and cancellation of flights has unfolded chaos at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the past three days. But the trouble of IndiGo’s passengers is not just limited to this. Several people have complained of lost luggage and lack of support from the airline’s customer support staff which have only aggravated their woes.

At least 600 pieces of luggage are lying at the Delhi airport, an official said. "Around 600 bags are lying at Delhi airport due to massive delays in flight operations and cancellations," the airport official, who asked not to be named, said.

On Friday at terminal 1, a 28-year-old electrical engineer from the US stood in queue for the third time since she arrived in Delhi on November 26. “It’s been 10 days and I still can’t get a hold of my luggage. All my family and I have done since I arrived is call IndiGo’s customer care team... But they haven’t been able to locate my luggage,” she said.

She is not alone. For the last few days, passengers across the country have complained about missing baggage, with many venting their frustration out on social media, often accusing the airline of not responding to their queries. While one X user lamented about missing luggage for 15 hours after arriving in Bengaluru where they had to attend a wedding, another tweeted at the airline about important medicines in his bag that was yet to be handed over to him after 24 hours.

The 28-year-old woman’s parents who had accompanied her to the IGI airport on Friday told HT, “Due to the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia, my daughter’s booking with KLM airline got cancelled and they put her on an IndiGo flight. They told her that her luggage will be delivered at the final destination in Delhi on November 26. It’s been over 10 days and she still hasn’t found her luggage,” said her mother, who asked not to be named.

Her daughter had come to India for the first time since starting her first job in the US and had returned to Delhi bearing gifts for her parents. “We lodged a complaint with KLM airlines, and they sent us photos of her luggage being handed over to IndiGo. After days of back and forth with IndiGo, the airline sent us a photo of only one bag and said we are still trying to find the other one. They gave us the phone number of a person who would help us sort things out but we have called 100 times and all we get is a computerised response that the number is out of reach or is switched off,” said the woman’s mother.

Deepa J, a 60-year-old who lives in the US, has spent the last 12 hours at the airport with no luggage and no idea when she will be able to take her connecting flight to Chennai. “I landed at T3 at 9.30 pm last night from the US, which itself was such a long flight, and then had a connecting flight from T1 to Chennai around 2.10am. That flight got cancelled and they gave another ticket for December 6 morning. I am moving around the airport in the same clothes as I don’t have my luggage yet. I can’t go to a hotel also since all my belongings are with IndiGo,” Deepa J added.

When HT visited T1, T2 and T3 on Thursday, similar scenes had unfolded with crowds of anxious passengers at IndiGo ticket counters seeking information about both flight disruptions and lost luggage containing important documents, medicines and valuables. Jyotsna Saxena, who had arrived from the US via Chennai, said her IndiGo flight landed in Delhi at 6.30am Tuesday but she still has not found three checked suitcases. “I’m supposed to leave for the US on Saturday. How will I do so without my luggage?” she asked, while Dhirender Shukla, 45, a diabetic, missed his Ranchi meeting and lacked access to medicines packed in his luggage. “I have been waiting for hours now,” he had told HT on Thursday.

HT reached out to IndiGo but the company refused to comment on the issue.