Dinesh Kumar of Visakhapatnam, who works for Tech Mahindra in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had a harrowing experience on the Air India Dubai – Vizag (via Hyderabad) flight when he came to the city last week.
Dinesh boarded the flight in Dubai late on Thursday night. The flight took off at its scheduled time at 1 a.m. (local time) in the early hours of Friday and landed in Hyderabad at 5.55 a.m. The flight was scheduled to take off from Hyderabad at 7 a.m. but even at 8 a.m., it did not take off, leaving passengers in jittery.
“The airline officials did not bother to inform us about the reason for the delay. No announcements were made on board. We came to know through someone that the flight was held up by Customs officials but there was no official confirmation of the same. There were senior citizens, women and children on board and they fumed at the lack of response from the airline,” Mr. Dinesh told The Hindu .
His wedding was fixed for February 27. There was a lot of work like distribution of cards to friends and the delay caught on his nerves. The officials concerned would have detained a passenger and allowed the flight to proceed, even if some passenger was carrying contraband goods.
The flight took off after a one-and-half-hour delay at 8.30 a.m. from Hyderabad.
It may be recalled that passengers had been protesting the holding up of the AI Dubai – Vizag (via Hyderabad) flight for more than an hour at Hyderabad, right from the early days of the launch of this flight nearly three years ago.
The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) authorities, who often lament about poor patronage from the public and ‘unfair competition’ from private operators, are failing to foresee the huge demand during special occasions like the wedding season.
Hundreds of passengers bound to Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam were literally stranded at the Vijayawada Bus Station on Sunday night.
Though there were quite a few buses for these destinations, all of them were full as the seats were reserved in advance.
“There was no information to the passengers on the alternative arrangements being made by the officials,” said a passenger from Visakhapatnam.
The Road Transport Corporation had, no doubt, received bouquets from passengers for its ‘outstanding services’ post-Hudhud, but failure to live up to the expectations of passengers now can mar its image.
