BANGALORE: Sixty-two passengers of a Bangalore-bound Kingfisher Airlines flight spent an entire day inside an aircraft at the Delhi airport, protesting against what they alleged the airline's inability to arrange alternative flights to reach Bangalore. Exhausted, they eventually landed at the city's HAL airport on Sunday along with 100 others, but they had a dramatic tale to narrate.

The drama unfolded at 8.45 p.m. on Friday, when the passengers arrived at the Delhi airport. Once they got the boarding passes, they were informed that their flight is yet to arrive from Bangalore and that there will be a delay of three hours. But the flight did not land because of heavy fog. After hours of waiting, at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, the airlines officials announced that the flight was cancelled.

"We were taken to Oberoi Hotel. The airline officials informed that they will be accommodated in the first available flight to Bangalore around 10.30 a.m.," recalled Ritu Bagaria, a housewife, who was returning to the city from a trip to Jaipur. The airline officials asked the passengers to report at the airport at around 1.30 p.m.

But as they arrived, the passengers had a shocker: The departure arrangements were yet to be made. The passengers were apparently agitated once they learnt that two other flights had already left for Bangalore, one at 9 a.m. and another at noon. "They were making arrangements to send people to Mumbai. No attention was given for sending to Bangalore," a passenger alleged.

Soon, the passengers got into protest mode. They virtually stopped the functioning of the airlines at the Delhi airport. Around 8.30 p.m., they were asked to board a plane, that was supposed to leave at 9 p.m. But with the Air Traffic Control closing operations at 9.15 p.m. this fight too was cancelled. The airlines personnel then asked all passengers to alight.

Not all passengers got off the aircraft. Sixty-two people remained in the aircraft. "We were agitated over the manner in which the airlines personnel delayed the time of departure and allowed it to be cancelled. Lot of inconvenience was caused to us because of the cancellation," said an Army personnel, who was coming to the city from Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir. All the 62 passengers, including five children, stayed put in the aircraft and spent the whole night bearing the cold "only to force upon the airlines to make arrangements," said Ms. Bagaria.

The passengers alleged that the airlines did not make arrangements on Sunday. They blocked the taxiway affecting movement of aircraft. Eventually, they left New Delhi at noon and landed here at 2.30 p.m.

Compensation

When contacted, the airlines officials blamed the Delhi fog for the episode. "We tried our best to reduce the inconvenience to passengers because of flight cancellation. But the situation was beyond our control," Prakash Niropuri, a spokesman of Kingfisher Airlines said from Mumbai. Compensating for the inconvenience, the airlines management promised the passengers a free to-and-fro ticket to any place in the country.

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