AI pilots ground Toronto-bound passengers in Amritsar

About 100 passengers scheduled to fly to Toronto by Air India Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight were grounded as AI pilots stuck work, leaving harried travellers with no option but to wait in their hotel rooms for the strike to end.

About 100 passengers scheduled to fly to Toronto by Air India Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto flight on late Monday night were grounded as AI pilots stuck work, leaving these harried travellers with no option but to wait in their hotel rooms for the strike to end.

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Feeling harassed at the hands of AI, the passengers demanded that its management and pilots reach a compromise so that their agony ended at the earliest.

It was learnt that when these passengers reached the local Shri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport late Monday night, they were told to go back due to the ongoing strike. Since then, many passengers were holed up in their hotel accommodation provided by the airline. They remained glued to television screens in the hope that the strike would end soon.

As Hindustan Times talked to stranded passengers in Amritsar, they were unanimous that it were the passengers who were harassed in this pilot-management tussle.

A physically challenged Kartar Kaur, who is traveling alone and needs a wheel chair to move about, said, "I was going to Toronto to meet my son. But suddenly, we were told about the strike. I am sick and I don't know till what time we will be here. This is sheer harassment for passengers who have spent hefty amounts on tickets."

Another passenger flying to Toronto, Surjit Singh said, "We have no choice other than waiting I hotel rooms. It is a fight between pilots and management but people are suffering. There must be a permanent solution to this trouble that comes regularly."