A visit to the loo cost two city students dear in Bangalore last Friday.

Yash Gupta and Shireen Goyal (name changed on request) missed their flight home owing to the absence of a public address system inside the washrooms in Bangalore International Airport’s domestic terminal.

Yash and Shireen, both second-year BBM students of Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, arrived at Bangalore airport at 2.40pm on October 24 to board an IndiGo flight to Calcutta for celebrating Diwali with their families. The flight was delayed by an hour and was scheduled to leave at 4.30pm.

The duo got their boarding passes and went through security check in time to reach the lounge near the boarding gates on the first floor at 4.05pm.

Since there was some time left, they decided to freshen up in the washroom before boarding.

When the two came out and reached the gates at 4.15pm, the IndiGo staff denied them entry.

The airline staff told them that several announcements had been made asking the passengers to board the flight.

“One can’t hear any announcement in the washrooms as there are no speakers inside. We pleaded with the ground staff to get in touch with the aircraft crew and accommodate us, but they just wouldn’t listen. They were very rude and uncooperative,” said Yash.

“They instructed the crew to offload our luggage because we could not be located on time. I have a good mind to sue them once I return to Bangalore,” he added.

The duo waited at the airport for four hours, trying to reason with IndiGo officials.

“We were driven from pillar to post and then told that there would be no refund or adjustments and there wasn’t any way they could arrange for us to take another IndiGo flight. We lost nearly Rs 6,500 on each ticket,” said Shireen.

The teenagers then returned to their hostels for the night and booked fresh tickets, which were a lot more expensive because of the festive rush.

“I took an IndiGo flight the next day at a cost of nearly Rs 14,000. Yash was able to get a ticket for Rs 10,000 on a Kingfisher flight on October 26. The experience has soured Diwali for us and our families,” said Shireen.

The airline, however, maintained that the passengers arrived too late for boarding a flight that was already postponed by an hour. Since the delay wasn’t because of an emergency, a refund or adjustment could not be considered, an airline official told Metro.

The Bangalore airport authorities denied comment.