Indigo airlines faces multiple complaints on social media, flight delays & foggy weather don't help either, DGCA issues notice [details]

This winter, Indigo Airlines has found itself right in the middle of the worst PR crisis on social media. Almost every airline has faced one odd complaint of rude behavior by the airport staff, of not being given enough notice of a flight delay, of an announced flight delay etc. However, it seems like the foggy weather will continue beyond the winter months for Indigo, considering a series of complaints swarming various social media platforms lately.

On Sunday, the airline particularly had a rough day when its on-time performance was recorded at just 21%. The unusual fog at Delhi has led to flight delays, particularly with the passengers of Indigo Goa-Delhi flight being diverted to Mumbai that too after a 12 hours of delay. "Airports are the new railway stations," remarked a social media user, after videos of passengers of the delayed flight having dinner right next to Indigo plane flooded X.

Frustrated passenger hits the captain

In multiple cases the flights have been waiting for a bay post landing. In one of the other unfortunate incidents, a frustrated passenger walked past the aisle from the last row and hit an Indigo captain. He was later deplaned and taken away by security forces. "While no amount of delay can justify any use of force, not everyone is okay with a flight delay. What if someone has a life or death, make or break emergency?" questioned a user stressing that there ought to be some responsibility for the delay on the airline too. The man later identified as Sahil Khattar

An ANI report quotes a co-passenger of the same flight, who also shot the video of the incident, alleging that the captain instead of being understanding and supporting to the passengers, instead blamed them for asking questions. The Russian Indian actress Evgenia Belskaia, shared on her Instagram page, "Ofcourse it's wrong to hit the pilot 100%, I will not agree with that. But why was he blaming passengers for this? He was supposed to understand and support them."

Same luggage, charged twice 

In a separate recent incident to have been brought to light by solo woman traveller/photographer Parmita on Facebook raised the issue passengers succumbing to airlines demand. Based in Chicago, she shared her recent experience of traveling by Indigo, "I hear people tell me they had unpleasant experiences with Indigo airlines but they let it pass without taking action or sharing their experience with others. I feel when we don't speak about such experiences, it encourages the arrogance and dominating behaviour such as Indigo airlines," she states before sharing details of her ordeal.

"Tell me if you think I got cheated or am i missing something? After landing in India, I booked a domestic flight with Indigo airlines because I knew I would have more than one check-in bag because only one bag of 15 kgs is allowed on Indigo airlines i paid for additional 20 kgs online to fly this domestic flight so when I arrived at the counter to check in the lady at the counter asked me to pay for the additional bag as only one check-in bag was allowed. Now when i asked her that if i had already paid for the 20 kg excess bag didn't that automatically mean that it would come in a bag. Or was I expected to carry the 20 kgs in my hands or what?" Adds Parmita, "She refused to listen or acknowledge the question and said that the only way I could board was if I paid for the additional check-in bag. I had to pay whatever amount she asked me to pay. But I think the demand and the threat in the tone of her voice was more like I was bullied to pay. Funny thing is I flew again today with the same airline, with the same baggage status and the staff did not ask me to pay anything additional for my second check-in bag and they even agreed with me that if I had paid online for the excess baggage that is all that would matter." The urgency to board a flight has led many a customers succumbing to ingenuine airline demands.

When is the airline required to provide accommodation?

In another incident to have been brought to light in the past week, a solo woman passenger can be heard arguing with a flight attendant over the right to be given accommodation. The video, since being shared, has amassed over a million views. The account AuthorPrajnaa posted, "It was the middle of the night and the flight was delayed for more than 8 hours. Despite being a rule from the airlines where the customers are entitled to accommodation the indigo manager denied providing one, she was very rude before I took the video." However, several netizens jumped to flight steward Nethraa's rescue and schooled the lady that as per civil aviation rules, that if a flight is delayed by more than six hours, the airline shall provide passengers with an option of alternate flight within six hours or full ticket refund. Hotel accommodation can be provided in case of delay by more than 24 hours. On Tuesday, considering the surfeit of complaints, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) stating that airlines may cancel sufficiently in advance, flights expected to be delayed by more than 3 hours.