The most unprofessional private airline Indigo operating in the Indian skies and abroad seems to be taking the passengers on a cheating ride! Even wheelchair-bound passengers are not shown mercy as Indigo conveniently skips printing Terminal number on air tickets and boarding passes. The printing of the Terminal number from which the flight departs is deliberately omitted to confuse passengers about the correct Terminal.
On 20th February 2023, the Indigo flight from Delhi to Hyderabad took off without 9 (nine) passengers. Seven of them belonged to a single family with 5 (five) of them wheelchair-bound. The Terminal number was not printed on the tickets. When they arrived at Terminal 3, the senseless and headstrong CISF personnel manning the Entry Gates made them wait for a long time before directing them to Terminal 2. The CISF personnel must correctly guide the passengers at the Entry Gates about the terminal. Their semi-literate staff is unable to read the tickets from mobile phones and demand to open tickets in different formats! Indigo does not have their staff at the Gates to guide the passengers flying by Indigo.
The modus operandi of Indigo seems to be to confuse the passengers and stop boarding by the time passengers reach the correct terminal. The stranded passengers are deprived of any cashback from the missed flight. On the other hand, they are forced and fleeced to buy new tickets at exorbitant fares. How many passengers carry so much money to buy tickets instantly? The old passengers and women are harassed. The next flight will be 6 to 8 hours away. The wretched Terminal 2 at Delhi Airport does not have lounges except for the good for nothing VVIPs. How long can the passengers sit on uncomfortable seats for long hours? A Canadian passenger narrated her woes to her husband about the missed flight and long waiting time at the airport. The host was at his hilarious end as he was scolded and chided for ‘Chindi Chaaley’ (cheap behavior) by the agitated husband, who seemed to have lost control.
Indigo either leaves passengers or their bags routinely. It may be recalled that it was reported that on an Indigo Hyderabad — Vishakhapatnam flight on 9th February 2023, bags of 37 passengers were left behind with no remuneration for baggage delay. There were not even apologies for the inconvenience. “We confirm that 37 bags were inadvertently left behind for flight 6E 409 departing from Hyderabad to Vishakhapatnam,” Indigo had confirmed in a statement on that day.
Indigo in their unwarranted zeal to be on time, stop boarding even for international flights much before the stipulated or announced time for closure of boarding. Why do Indigo flights fly before the scheduled departure? When it suits their political bosses, Indigo delays all the passengers endlessly!
The Director General of Civil Aviation should initiate an inquiry into Indigo’s wayward ways to deny boarding to even wheelchair passengers and ask Indigo to compensate with Rs One Crore for each passenger for the waste of time and the mental agony caused due to the missed flight. The 37 passengers whose bags were left behind should also be compensated Rs One Crore each.
