More than 100 Air India Express passengers were stranded at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on Friday early morning.
The Air India Express flight IS 348, from Abu Dhabi to Calicut, has been delayed more than 12 hours due to a technical fault from its original schedule of 12.30am on Friday.
Finally, the passengers boarded the same flight at 2.30pm on Friday.
In a statement Air India Express Corporate Communications office said: "The delay was due to a technical snag, which was progressive in nature. The airline put all efforts to assist the passengers. Passengers were given hotel accommodation and necessary refreshments were provided on regular intervals. Also passengers were given the option to cancel the booking with full refund."
Some of the travellers said they were provided temporary accommodation while others said they waited with their families at the airport.
Mohammad Ali, a paasenger, told Gulf News that he had suffered along with his family as he had to wait at the airport for long.
“I was stranded at the airport for more than 12 hours and we were not provided any accommodation, while some people were sent to the airport hotel,” Ali said.
He also complained that there wasn’t proper information available. “Finally we boarded the same flight to Calicut at 2.30pm. It was so painful to wait for so long along with the family,” Ali said.
Balakrishnan, another passenger, said, “I was provided an accommodation at the airport hotel. It wasn’t good to promise a new schedule and postpone it again. Information about passengers’ accomodation was poor. Passengers were not offered any compensation for over 12-hours delay.”
At 3.15pm, a woman passenger said: “We are on board but still waiting to take off as they are looking for other passengers who were listed to take this flight. Since they didn’t show up the airline is offloading their luggage.”
“It was a painful experience and totally mismanaged. Even we were not offered meals, only some dry bread. It was really pathetic,” she said without disclosing her name.
SOURCE : GULFNEWS