Bangkok-bound AI fliers stranded at Mumbai airport for 15 hours

Hundreds of Air India passengers bound to Bangkok in the wee hours of Saturday were stuck at the Mumbai airport for at least 15 hours after their flight was cancelled.

Hundreds of Air India passengers bound to Bangkok in the wee hours of Saturday were stuck at the Mumbai airport for at least 15 hours after their flight was cancelled.

Irked passengers- couples on their honeymoon, elderly and children- alleged that flight AI 330 was cancelled at around 2am on Saturday- 30 minutes after it scheduled departure time. There were no airline staffs to assist the passengers.

"It took us four hours to find an official to update us about the flight's status," said Deepali Dalvi, a newly wed who was booked to go on her honeymoon.

"There are about 6 to 7 couples like us who have booked packaged tours and onwards journey from Bangkok. These packages cost between Rs 60,000- Rs 80,000. Who will pay for the loss owing to this delay?" she added.

An Air India spokesperson said that the flight was cancelled owing to a technical snag. "We are trying to make the best possible arrangements to accommodate these fliers," said the spokesperson.

Although the fliers were told that the flight was rescheduled at 2pm on Saturday, the airline missed that deadline too.

Irate fliers blocked the boarding gates of the other AI flights. "Passengers blocked the boarding gates of an AI flight bound to Riyadh for 10 minutes," said a senior CISF official.