There is another strange case involving Air India and a flight from Phuket that occurred roughly a week ago, when a plane that suffered maintenance issues TWICE returned the passengers to the terminal.
Passengers affected actually experienced this situation on two different days – once after already having taken off – as the previous day, passengers were brought back to the gate after a similar issue when the flight went tech and the crew timed out.
What is even more baffling is that Air India doesn’t seem to have taken care of most passengers in terms of rebookings and left them to their own devices, booking new tickets back to Delhi.
As the ET reports, this whole ordeal stretched over four days when passengers finally reached their destination.
A flight that was meant to take passengers from Phuket to Delhi in five hours has turned into a four-day ordeal for many travellers aboard Air India Flight AI 377. The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 5:50 pm (local time) on November 16, had to be delayed due to technical issues and crew flight duty time restrictions.
The Airbus A320 (VT-EDD) was unable to take off on its scheduled time, and after a delay of nearly 24 hours, the flight took off from Phuket at 8:44 pm the next day. However, after about 3.5 hours in the air, the aircraft had to return to Phuket due to a technical snag.
As of Nov 19, around 30-35 passengers remained stranded in Phuket. In a TOI report, Air India sources confirm that plans are in place to fly these passengers back to Delhi on Wednesday, meaning they will reach their destination four days later than originally expected.
In a statement, Air India expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to the affected passengers: “Air India sincerely regrets the inconvenience to passengers of Flight AI-377 operating from Phuket to Delhi on Nov 16 which was cancelled due to a technical issue.”
“While our staff on the ground made efforts to minimise their inconvenience, providing all on-ground assistance including hotel accommodations and meals, some of the guests were also reaccommodated on alternatively available flights. Passengers were also offered options for full refunds on cancellation and complimentary rescheduling. At Air India, the safety and security of our passengers and crew is top priority,” said AI.
According to other reports like in the Times of India, there were quite a few people who accepted the refund and then made their own arrangements to travel back to India.
Airlines are required to rebook passengers to other flights including those operated by other airlines when such a situation occurs. Thailand is one of the most frequented destinations worldwide with ample flight connections to India. Rerouting passengers on other direct flights or connectiong via Bangkok would have been no problem whatsoever.
Of course, sometimes airlines like to push back and try to avoid rebookings so they won’t have to pay other airlines. It’s hard to understand the motives of people staying behind and how they eventually got home. They likely had to pay quite a bit extra.
It’s not too long ago that Air India had another Phuket-related incident:
FIRED: Drunk Air India Pilot Operates Phuket-Delhi Flight & Fails Breathalyzer Upon Arrival
Flying with Air India still seems like a rather unpleasant experience and a hazard these days. I think it’s been almost 10 years since I last flew on them, and not much has appeared to have changed.
Conclusion
Air India has suffered yet another incident involving a Phuket flight. This time, the flight had technical issues two days in a row. The first days passengers were already on the tarmac and then brought back to the gate, stamped back into Thailand and waited until the next days.
On the second attempt to leave, they at least got up in the air, but then the plane had to turn back to Phuket, where they landed after 3.5 hours of flying. Once again everyone had to be re-admitted into the country.
Air India then took several days to disperse with all passengers and get them to Delhi. Many had already given up and taken a refund, organizing their own return to India and likely paying plenty out of pocket for that. The last passengers arrived at their destination FOUR DAYS later. Horrible!
