Wedding group late; delays Jet flight for two hours
MUMBAI: Latecomers from a wedding group allegedly delayed a Bhopal-bound Jet Airways flight at Mumbai airport for nearly two hours, triggering unruly scenes that required security officers’ intervention.
Passengers, some of whom filmed videos of the chaos inside the aircraft and tweeted about the incident, said the flight was delayed because the airline wanted to accommodate fliers who failed to reach on time.
The incident happened on flight 9W 7083 that was scheduled to leave at 5.55 am on Friday.
Minutes before takeoff, passengers learnt the aircraft was not moving because some passengers were running late. A Jet Airways spokesperson blamed a technical glitch that led to overbooking beyond the norm.
Rules state that check-in counters should shut down 45 minutes before takeoff. Often fliers reaching the airport but failing to make it to the checkin counter within that deadline are denied boarding.
FIVE TAKE OFFER OF NEW TICKET AND `10,000 BUT THE FLIGHT WAS DELAYED AS 12 MORE FROM THE GROUP HAD TO BE ACCOMMODATED
But on Friday, the airline made an exception, passengers alleged.
“Initially the airline crew denied boarding to the 17 travelers who came in late. But then, the rest of the group on board refused to fly without them,” said Aditi Shrivastava, a passenger who works with an entertainment company in Mumbai.
As the flight was overbooked, the airline made an announcement requesting other travellers to give their seats to accommodate the guests from the group.
Parikshit Reddy tweeted about a fellow passenger who was travelling to attend his father’s funeral. “Stranded, helpless gentlemen waiting to see his dad’s dead body.”
The scenario turned ugly when members of wedding group blocked the aircraft doors. The scenes were captured in a video shot by Shrivastava which went viral online. The video shows the airline staff refused to call security men despite passengers’ demand.
As the standoff continued, passengers said the airline offered cash reward of `10,000 to volunteers willing to give up their seats in addition to the journey on another Bhopalbound flight in the evening.
Five passengers took the offer but the flight was still stuck as 12 more from the wedding group had to be accommodated.
“The offloaded guests, part of a larger group, refused to accept the airline’s offer of compensation and re-accommodation on alternative flights, and together with other members of the group, proceeded to hold the flight,” a Jet statement said.
“This led to an unruly situation, necessitating the intervention of law enforcement officials.”
Subsequently, all the offloaded guests were duly compensated in accordance with DGCA guidelines and the technical glitch identified and corrected for subsequent bookings, a Jet spokesperson said.