Rajat Parashar, an NRI based in San Francisco, was coming home for Diwali. He was to take the JetLite flight S2 324 from New Delhi to Calcutta on November 9. “But when my son went to the JetLite counter he was told that the flight had been cancelled. He was forced to buy a fresh ticket on another airline,” said his mother Mridula, who alleged that though her mobile phone number had been given to the airline, the family had not been informed about the cancellation.

The Parashars represent a growing breed of air-traffic victims. “Every week, passengers come to us complaining of no information about delays and cancellations. The airlines need to device a fool-proof system,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of Travel Agents Federation of India.

Airlines, in turn, blame it on tour operators and passengers. “In many cases the phone numbers are wrong or the numbers are not properly fed into our system,” claimed airline sources. Once the passenger’s cell number is registered, an SMS about flight delay or cancellation is automatically generated.

This SMS has become increasingly vital for those flying the crowded Indian skies as airport authorities reveal an average of 10 to 12 per cent flights are either delayed or cancelled. According to aviation sources, the SMS system often malfunctions.

S. Ghosh (name changed on request) was an SMS victim while going from Calcutta to Mumbai on November 16. He arrived to catch JetLite’s flight S2 224 at 7.50pm, only to find it cancelled. “I had given my mobile phone number but got no SMS,” said Ghosh. He was finally put on a later Jet Airways flight.

The norm is to inform passengers on their mobile phones or landline numbers. When the passenger’s contact number is unavailable, the travel agent is alerted. “We are trying to develop a fool-proof mode of information,” said Anup Chowdhury, the chairman of Airlines Operation Committee.