Air India goofs up, fans grounded

NEW DELHI: In a goof-up that is going to further dent Air India’s (AI) battered image, the airline’s Delhi-Sydney flight was delayed by over eight hours on Saturday, which meant that fans travelling to Australia to see the epic IndiaPakistan clash would not have even reached Adelaide when the match begins on Sunday.

AI’s flight 302 to Sydney, with 254 passengers on board, was to depart at 1pm on Saturday. However, the flight was delayed due to the “nonavailability of cabin crew”. Passengers who had arrived at the Delhi airport by 10am were asked to wait as the airline made “arrangements”.

Passengers started protesting when till evening there was no word from the airline. “We are a group of eight travelling to Adelaide for the match and spent around `1 lakh each on flight tickets,” a passenger, who did not wish to be named, told HT.

The flight finally took off at around 10.15pm. “It’s a 12-hour flight to Australia so there is no chance of them reaching Adelaide till noon tomorrow (Sunday). They will miss the match,” said an AI official.

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