Pune: A scheduled Air India flight from Delhi to Pune, which was supposed to depart at 9:40 PM on Saturday (January 4), finally landed at 10 AM on Sunday (January 5) after an extensive 12-hour delay. The delay, attributed to heavy fog in Delhi, left 200 passengers onboard the flight for seven hours before they were briefly deboarded and later reboarded on the same aircraft.
The flight was initially expected to take off by 10 PM, with an estimated two-hour travel time to Pune. However, the aircraft remained grounded for hours. Passengers, including elderly individuals, repeatedly requested updates from the crew, who initially cited fog as the reason for the delay and assured an imminent departure.
As the hours passed, passengers began demanding to be allowed to wait at the terminal instead of being confined to the aircraft. Despite their appeals, no action was taken. The passengers endured cramped and uncomfortable conditions for approximately seven hours.
At 5:30 AM, the passengers were finally deboarded. They were taken in buses that circled the airport for a while before being sent to a new terminal for additional security checks. The terminal, already crowded with passengers from other delayed flights, added to their frustrations. This deboarding process took two additional hours.
As daylight broke, passengers were asked to reboard the same aircraft. The flight finally departed, landing in Pune at 10 AM on Sunday. What should have been a routine two-hour journey turned into a 12-hour ordeal, leaving passengers mentally and physically drained.
Several passengers expressed dissatisfaction with the airline's handling of the situation, particularly the lack of timely communication and the decision to keep them onboard the aircraft for such an extended period.
