Air India Express passengers stranded

Passengers travelling between UAE and India were stranded after multiple Air India Express flights were cancelled or delayed from Tuesday night.

Air India’s low-cost airline said the disruption was a result of “a section of our cabin crew” reporting sick “at the last minute”.

The Tata Group-owned carrier added: “Guests impacted by cancellations will be offered a full refund or complimentary rescheduling to another date. Guests flying with us today [Wednesday] are requested to check if their flight is affected, before heading to the airport.”

Passengers’ ordeal

Vijayakumar Govindarasu, who was scheduled to fly from Sharjah to Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu at 9.30pm yesterday, found his flight cancelled.

Many flights to and from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah were cancelled, according to the airline’s website. TV reports and videos on social media India showed several passengers stranded at different airports. Among them were people who were on emergency leave, some facing immediate expiry of visas and those required to report to work immediately.

Sharjah resident Abraham M was among hundreds of passengers stranded in India. His flight to Dubai was scheduled at 5am yesterday from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

“Some passengers got their tickets cancelled so that they could fly on other airlines while some passengers got their tickets rescheduled,” said Abraham, who got his ticket rescheduled and went back home.

Refunds, rebooking

Air India Express also shared a WhatsApp number (+916360012345) for refunds or free rescheduling of impacted flights.

Afi Ahmad, founder of Smart Travel Group, said affected passengers can either avail a refund or reschedule their flight to a date within a week without extra charges.

“All these services can be done through the chatbot on the site,” he said.