Passengers intending to board a flight to Bengaluru were kept waiting for over an hour in an aerobridge at the Delhi airport earlier this week, videos shared on social media have revealed.
According to a video posted by digital creator Soumil Agarwal, passengers, which included senior citizens as well, were "locked up" in the aerobridge without water or information.
"I understand that sometime flight gets delayed. But making the passengers cross the Boarding gate, then closing the flight gates and not letting your passengers go beyond any of these 2 ways, and locking them up in the middle is not cool," Agarwal took to Instagram to say.
"When passengers asked to open the boarding gate so that they can rest back at the waiting area, the authorities denied it and went missing, when senior citizens asked for water because they were locked in there for more than an hour and had no water, the authorities didn't give them water and told them to ask for water in the flight once the gates are open. And when people asked them on how much tentative time would it take for that- they had no answer. Who treats their customers like this?" he added.
Another passenger took to Twitter to share some videos and write that it was the "worst hospitality" they had ever seen.
"The worst hospitality I've ever seen, all the passengers of SpiceJet SG8133 flying from Delhi to Bangalore have been standing in this huge queue for two hours now, with no communication from the staff or the crew, and not even letting us through!" wrote the passenger.
Following this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a probe and sought a report from the airline.
Why did the incident occur?
Passengers had to be kept waiting as a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Bengaluru was delayed by three hours due to weather disruption. As a result of this, the incoming crew could not operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation.
On average, the turnaround time for a Boeing aircraft is 40-45 minutes at Delhi airport while on this particular flight, the turnaround time was around 20 minutes more than the average turnaround time.
How did SpiceJet respond?
SpiceJet said in a statement that the delay was due to weather disruption that led to incoming crew exceeding their duty time limit. Additionally, they said that as passengers had completed the security check they were requested to wait at the aerobridge.
"SpiceJet flight SG 8133 (Delhi-Bengaluru) dated 10 January 2023 was delayed on account of weather disruption in the network and the aircraft's previous rotation. As a result, the incoming crew was not legal to operate the subsequent flight to Bengaluru the and crew was arranged from another incoming flight which was legal as per duty time limitation," a SpiceJet spokesperson was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Further, the airline also refuted the claims that water was not served to the passengers.
"Water was served to passengers who were on the lower floor near aircraft door and aerobridge passage. The video was shot outside of the boarding gate that had limited access. All passengers on the said flight were provided service recovery vouchers," it said.
