Some passengers had been sitting inside the aircraft for hours, waiting for take-off. Others moved helplessly from one counter to another, trying to figure out what to do after their flights were suddenly cancelled.

At the Calcutta airport on Thursday, there were hundreds like them as cancellations and delays of IndiGo flights across its network stranded fliers.

Here are the experiences of three among them:

Syed Fazel, 40

Anaesthesiologist, Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru

Travelling with a colleague

Our IndiGo flight to Bangalore was scheduled for 4.55am on Thursday, but it was cancelled without any prior information from the airline. We only found out about the cancellation after reaching the check-in counter. We felt completely helpless because
there was no clarity about anything.

Later, the airline staff told us to board another flight to Patna at 6.40pm and then take a connecting flight to Bangalore. Even that flight was delayed by two hours. Because of all this uncertainty, I had to cancel two surgeries and arrange replacements for the other scheduled ones.

It has been extremely stressful and harassing. I still do not know when I will finally reach Bangalore and resume duty at the hospital. The lack of clear communication from the airline has only added to the frustration.

Jyoti Rawat, 45

Homemaker

Travelling with family to Ahmedabad

We reached the airport at 2.30pm on Wednesday for our 4.30pm IndiGo flight. It was cancelled, and since then we have been inside the terminal for more than 24 hours. The airline staff told us we had been rebooked on a 7.45am flight on Thursday. But that was pushed back to 2.10pm, and then they said there was no clarity on when it would take off.

After waiting endlessly, we finally booked tickets on another IndiGo flight for Friday. We will be staying in a hotel tonight and just hope Friday’s flight doesn’t get cancelled too.

Aandaleeb Mukherjee, 18

First-year student, Jadavpur University

Arrived from Bengaluru

Our flight from Bengaluru was supposed to depart at 9.30am on Thursday. We boarded on time, but remained seated inside the aircraft for almost 75 minutes. It finally took off at 11am, with no proper announcement about the reason for the delay.

Several elderly passengers on the flight were complaining. I became impatient too and kept trying to find out when we would take off, but no one could give a clear answer. No IndiGo staff informed us why we were waiting, which made the situation even more frustrating.