Angry IndiGo fliers lashed out at the airlines on social media after their flights to New Delhi and Mumbai from Turkey's Istanbul airport were allegedly delayed for 24 hours. The passengers complained that they were not provided with any accommodation or food facilities despite being stranded at the airport in freezing weather conditions. Many posts claimed that Turkish Airlines staff were rude in dealing with the complaining passengers, around 400 in number, and IndiGo didn't handle the situation "professionally."
According to a social media user who claimed he was to travel to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from Istanbul, the IndiGo aircraft scheduled for an 8.15 pm takeoff was delayed to 11 pm before being further pushed to 10 am the next day. Further angering the fliers, IndiGo made no effort to pass on the news to its customers. They came to know about the development from the Turkish Airlines crew, NDTV quoted the man as saying from Turkey.
"We were told we'd get lounge access at Istanbul airport as compensation. But the lounge was far too small to accommodate the huge number of stranded passengers. Many of us were left standing for hours without proper facilities. No alternative flights were offered, no proper communication was made, and to top it all off-no plans for reparations were shared," he reportedly wrote in a post on X.
Meanwhile, another passenger claimed that after the 6.40 am Delhi flight was cancelled, IndiGO arranged no transport for its customers to be taken to the accommodations they were provided with. IndiGo replied to this post on X, saying that the flight was delayed due to operational reasons and they were working to assist the customers in the best possible way, the NDTX report said.
@IndiGo6E worst flight and very irresponsible and unprofessional airline. I booked the flight from Edh to Delhi via istanbul . I have made stuck at the istanbul airport due to an indigo flight being overbooked. I have been waiting for last 7hrs and no one knows anything
— Aditi Singla (@aditi_singla1) December 12, 2024
"worst flight and very irresponsible and unprofessional airline. I booked the flight from Edh to Delhi via Istanbul. I have made stuck at the Istanbul airport due to an indigo flight being overbooked. I have been waiting for last 7hrs and no one knows anything," another post on X from 4:00 AM on Thursday read.
The temperature at Istanbul showed 7 degrees Celcius during the time of compiling this report.
"Flt 6e18 on 12dec24 from Istanbul to mumbai delayed by 14 hrs. More than 200 indians stranded at istnbl arprt. Nobody from indigo to help. Turkish arprt staff behaving rudely. Can anyone help," another post on X said.
"Turkish Airlines staff misbehaving with all passengers. No one from Indigo here yet. Shameful. Stuck at the airport for more than 26hrs, waiting for Istanbul to Delhi flight," another user said while sharing a video from the airport that THE WEEK couldn't verify.