Dense fog enveloping the national capital triggered significant flight disruptions for Pune on Tuesday, leading to over fifteen delayed movements and at least two cancellations. Passengers faced hours of uncertainty and frustration as adverse weather conditions in Delhi rippled through flight schedules to and from the city.
Passenger Ordeals and Airline Disparities
The cancellations left many travelers in a lurch. Sachin Deshpande, who was booked on the early morning IndiGo flight 6E-2343 from Delhi to Pune, found his journey abruptly cancelled. Expressing his confusion on social media platform X, he noted that while his IndiGo flight was axed, an Air India flight scheduled for a similar departure time was operating on schedule. "My flight has been cancelled due to bad weather. Surprisingly, the Air India flight from Delhi to Pune, leaving at the same time, is on time. Why is the IndiGo flight getting cancelled? Bad weather should affect every airline," Deshpande wrote.
Another passenger, Manav Pandey, an employee from the corporate sector in Delhi, faced a similar predicament. His Air India Express flight, slated to depart Delhi at 9:55 AM and land in Pune at 12:25 PM, was also cancelled. The offered refund provided little solace. "They gave me an option of a refund, but that doesn't solve my problem because I was to be in Pune today for an important function and I booked my hotel. The hotel surely won't be giving me a refund," Pandey stated, highlighting the cascading financial and logistical troubles.
Extended Delays and Airport Hassles
The disruption was not limited to cancellations. Until at least 11 AM on Tuesday, numerous flights, especially those arriving from Delhi, were delayed by anywhere between 30 minutes to over two hours. This created a domino effect, with delays persisting well into the afternoon.
Some passengers endured extreme hardship. Ashish Gupta detailed a grueling experience on X, where his journey from Guwahati to Pune via Delhi was thrown into disarray. "We had a flight from Guwahati to Pune via Delhi. The flight from Delhi to Pune got cancelled because of adverse weather conditions. We literally had to beg the ground staff to get some alternative. After 11 hours at the airport, we got the flight to Pune," he recounted, though he did not specify the airline involved.
Travel Plans Reconsidered
The widespread disruption has prompted many flyers to reconsider their travel plans to and from northern India in the coming days. Fearing similar hassles, some have opted to cancel or postpone their trips entirely.
Pallavi Jadhav decided to cancel her planned trip from Delhi to Pune for New Year's Eve. "I was to come from Delhi to Pune on New Year's Eve but cancelled the trip as I don't want any hassle. I will travel in February," she said. Sumit Kashyap, who had intended to travel to Lucknow, echoed this sentiment. He cancelled his New Year family plans due to the flight disruptions and now intends to travel during the Holi period instead.
The incident underscores the vulnerability of air travel to severe weather conditions in key transit hubs like Delhi, causing ripple effects across the network and significant inconvenience to passengers during the busy holiday season.
