Karnataka - Bangalore

Passengers left stranded in Paris

BANGALORE: Eighteen Indian passengers on a transatlantic flight were stranded in Paris on July 9 when they missed a connecting flight to India.

All the passengers were travelling to Bangalore from the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris. They had arrived in France from Cincinnati and London and were supposed to board Air France flight AF 192 to Bangalore. According to one of the passengers on this flight, Ahalya Kumar, 15 passengers arrived in the airport from Cincinnati on Air France flight AF 8701, of which three passengers were booked to Mumbai via Bangalore.

A second batch of three passengers, who arrived from London aboard DL 044 were also booked on AF 192. One of the passengers, a paralysis patient, was in a wheelchair, while another was a child.

Ms. Kumar alleged that AF 192 had taken off before time and had left the 18 passengers stranded at the airport. The flights from Cincinnati and London had arrived at the airport in Paris much before the check-in time for AF 192 was announced. She said the flight from Cincinnati was made to wait for 40 minutes on the tarmac.

According to Ms. Kumar, the wheelchair-bound gentleman who arrived from London and who missed the flight back was put to mental torture as the staff of Air France took his and his wife’s passports for “reasons unknown”. “They left him and his wife unattended for two hours”, she said. Four other passengers, Ramanathan and his wife, Rosali Jose and Mohana Ranganathan were denied visas at the airport, owing to which they had to spend the entire day at gate number 80 without a place to sit, Ms. Kumar said.

The passengers have complained to the Managing Director of Air France in Paris, Spinneta, the Indian embassy in Paris, and the National Human Rights Commission, about the alleged harassment meted out by the airlines.

The Air France official communiqué issued by its spokesperson Santanu Gogoi in response to The Hindu’s queries said that Air France “recognises the importance of adhering to schedules, and is acutely aware of the inconvenience caused, especially to passengers with special needs”. He said that in the “unfortunate event of these missed connections from Cincinnati, Atlanta and Birmingham, Air France staff were at hand and did all possible to minimise the inconvenience to these passengers. They rebooked all 18 of them on the first available flight to their destinations — Mumbai and Bangalore — providing them with meals quickly, and also accommodation.” He, however, said that the decision on whether a visa should be granted was the “sole discretion of the French Police (Immigration).”

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