Passengers stage dharna at airport after GoAir cancels two flights at the last minute due to technical snag

“When we asked them to give us an alternate flight as soon as possible, they refused and said that no arrangement could be made before Thursday and that too for just ten passengers, said Amit Sinha, a bank employee. Sinha added, “Their initial behaviour was extremely rude and unaaceptable. That was the reason why we decided to stage a dharna. They wanted to refund our money and asked us to make alternate travel arrangements on our own. Later, we found out that another Ahmedabad-bound flight was cancelled as well, leaving those passengers stranded too.”

The passengers who had reached airport as early as 9.30 am for the 11.10 flight were left stranded at the domestic airport till 4 pm. Following the ruckus and the police’s quick intervention, the airline authorities arranged for a different flight for all the stranded passengers. “They divided the passengers into three groups and assured us to provide a connecting flight from Delhi to reach Patna or Ranchi, as per our requirements,” added S. Swami, another passenger.

“A group of passengers, whose flights to Delhi and Ahmadabad got cancelled, sat on a dharna at the airport as a mark of protest. We were able to placate them and convinced them to end their protest. No damage to property or law and order problems occurred. No case has been registered,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Madhukar Sankhe, Airport division.

Meanwhile, Vice president of customer relations, GO Air, Kamal Kikani said, that despite the technical snag they made sure that the passengers were not held back and reach their destinations.

“There was a delay as two flights had to be cancelled due to a technical snag. However, we did manage to put them on alternate flights to Delhi and then from there to Patna or Ranchi. We do understand they were upset and angry but we did whatever we could to provide them with an alternate flight to Delhi,” said Kikani.
dipti.singh@expressindia.com
gautam.mengle@expressindia.com