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Air India cancels Delhi-bound flight from Vancouver after six-hour delay
An Air India spokesperson said Air India AI186 was later cancelled “as a technical issue was detected in the operating aircraft”
NEW DELHI: An Air India flight from Vancouver to Delhi was cancelled after a six-hour delay on Sunday due to a technical issue, people familiar with the matter said.
An Air India spokesperson said Air India AI186, which was scheduled to operate Vancouver-Delhi on 2 July 2023, was initially rescheduled. The flight was later cancelled “as a technical issue was detected in the operating aircraft”.
“While the aircraft undergoes the necessary checks and repairs, we have re-accommodated some of our guests on flights operated by other airlines… The rest of the guests are being offered other alternative arrangements and support until they are Delhi-bound again. We regret the inconvenience caused to our guests, but as always, ensuring the safety of all is our top priority,” the spokesperson added.
An official said the flight was cancelled due to an engine issue.
Many of the passengers in the flight were students who were returning to Delhi for their summer break. “The flight had around 25 students studying at the University of British Columbia. The flight however, had senior citizens and children too,” an official said.
A student, who asked not to be named, said the airline did not help them with a revised departure time. “They first delayed the flight for five hours, then by an hour and it was only when the flight status changed to ‘cancelled’ on the display gates, did we get to know about it.”
“The airline staff did not even assist us, and we had to wait for another two hours just to collect our luggage,” the student added.
A group of around 10 UBC students who had already surrendered their rented accommodations said they stayed with friends
“We have three bags each and 10 of us are sharing this accommodation because we don’t have the funds to book another flight or rent another house,” a BCom student said. “The airline had given us an option to fly to San Francisco and then they would accommodate us to a nonstop flight to Delhi. But we do not have funds to manage a night stay in a hotel , nor do we have a US visa,” she added.
A second student, who also flying to Delhi for the summer break, said, “We had requested a refund for our tickets but we have not received any response from Air India. No airline staff helped us and we ended up returning from the airport only after 11 hours. The staff did not fetch any information on refund. They, instead, told us that we wouldn’t be refunded if we booked a different airline for Delhi.”
On May 22 too, a Delhi-bound Air India flight scheduled to take off from Vancouver was delayed for 12 hours before it was cancelled due to technical reasons.
