Pune: Over 100 flyers of Vistara’s Pune-Singapore (UK-111) flight languished at the city airport for hours because it was rescheduled multiple times, and boarded an aircraft only to deboard as the airline cancelled the service on Monday morning, over six hours after its scheduled departure time.
Many passengers’ ordeal continued because they had to wait till almost 11am for the refund.Some flyers spent almost 13 hours at the facility because they had reported for the overseas flight much before its scheduled departure.
The flight was scheduled to take off from the city at 2.10am on Monday and land in Singapore at IST (Indian Standard Time) 08.10 hours.
The airline attributed the flight’s cancellation to a technical issue in the aircraft. “Before the take-off, a technical snag was detected in the Vistara aircraft operating from Pune to Singapore on September 9. Since the checks and resolution took more than the anticipated time, our crew exceeded their flight duty time limitation. This compelled us to eventually cancel the flight,” an airline spokesperson told TOI.
“We are making all efforts to minimise the inconvenience to our customers, including offering them refreshments, alternative flight options and refunds, as applicable. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers. As always, the safety of our customers and crew is of utmost importance to Vistara,” the spokesperson said.
Baner’s Prakash Jakune was booked on the Vistara flight for a business trip to Singapore. He said many flyers had reached the airport around 10pm on Sunday.
“According to regulations, passengers travelling to overseas destinations need to report to the airport three-four hours in advance. Our trouble started some time after we completed the check-in and security check formalities. First, the airline said the flight was slightly delayed and would take off at 2.40am,” Jakune told TOI.
He said the flight was further delayed and the boarding time kept changing from 3.15am to 3.35am, and then to 4.30am. “The carrier’s officials could not give proper answers to our queries. There was no sign of any refreshments either. Finally, around 5.30am, the boarding started. About 40 minutes later, the aircraft was ready to fly,” Jakune said.
The plane stopped after taxiing towards the runway, though. “We had no clue as to what was happening. The aircraft returned to the parking bay around 6.40am, but we were not allowed to deboard. All flyers were very frustrated by then. Around 8am, some refreshments were served. Then the flyers were told to deboard the plane. When we were getting out of the aircraft, the airline announced that the flight had been cancelled,” Jakune said.
“The ticket refund process was very slow. I could finally leave the airport only at 11am, around 13 hours after I reached the facility,” Jakune said.