Passengers on Pune-Bengaluru Air India Flight Face Long Delays and Unexpected Diversion to Chennai
Pune, 6th July 2024: Over 150 passengers on Air India’s Pune-Bengaluru flight on Friday faced a series of challenges, including a delay of more than three hours, an unplanned diversion to Chennai, and an extended wait on the tarmac.
The flight, AI-566, was scheduled to depart from Pune at 11:20 AM and arrive in Bengaluru at 12:50 PM. A passenger on the flight, shared her experience, stating she arrived at the airport around 8:00 AM. “The airline kept delaying the flight due to technical reasons. Many passengers had important commitments and missed them because of the delay,” she said.
The flight finally departed for Bengaluru at 3:00 PM, but the troubles didn’t end there. Mid-flight, the aircraft was diverted to Chennai.
She recounted, “We weren’t informed about the diversion by the cabin crew or the pilot. The flight seemed to prepare for landing in Bengaluru but then ascended again, causing confusion among passengers. We questioned the crew, but they had no clear answers.”
“The captain later announced that the diversion to Chennai was due to a technical issue,” Pawar continued. “He mentioned a fuel problem, but the explanation was unclear. The entire situation left us in shock. Passengers became restless and started arguing.”
The flight landed in Chennai around 5:00 PM, where passengers expected to disembark and wait in the terminal. However, they were made to stay on the plane for over an hour.
“We were kept in the aircraft from 5:00 PM to 6:40 PM without any clear information. The cabin crew repeatedly said the same aircraft would fly to Bengaluru but never gave us a specific departure time. This led to numerous arguments on board”, the passenger informed.
Eventually, the aircraft took off from Chennai at 6:50 PM and landed in Bengaluru at 7:40 PM, concluding a frustrating and exhausting journey for the passengers.
