What was supposed to be a routine afternoon flight from New Delhi to Bengaluru descended into a day-long saga of uncertainty, frustration, and helplessness for dozens of passengers, including this writer. The incident, involving IndiGo airlines, highlights the severe operational disruptions and communication breakdowns that can plague air travel in India.
The Ominous Warning and a Costly Dilemma
The troubles began a day before the scheduled journey. During an editorial meeting on Wednesday evening, a colleague forewarned about IndiGo's schedule being "haywire" and suggested changing the carrier for the Thursday flight. Heeding the advice, an attempt was made to book a ticket on another airline. However, tickets to Bengaluru had skyrocketed, exhibiting clear signs of surge pricing by other carriers, making them prohibitively expensive. With the trip deemed essential, the decision was made to proceed with the original IndiGo booking for flight 6E 176, departing at 2:15 PM on Thursday from Delhi's Terminal 1.
A False Sense of Calm Before the Storm
Thursday morning started with deceptive normalcy. A standard message from IndiGo arrived, expressing anticipation for the journey and offering generic cabin baggage advice, with no indication of any disruption. Arriving at the airport around 12:30 PM, the information board displayed a reassuring message: Flight 6E 176 to Bengaluru was on schedule from Gate 38. The optimism was short-lived.
Near Gate 38, a crowd of agitated passengers revealed the first signs of trouble. They were supposed to be on an earlier IndiGo flight 6E 173 to Bengaluru, scheduled for 10:30 AM, which had not taken off. An IndiGo staff member present had no information for them. Despite this, the board still showed the 2:15 PM flight as on time.
The Unraveling: No Pilot, Angry Flyers, and Shifting Timelines
Around 1:30 PM, an IndiGo official appeared, only to deliver a bombshell to the waiting passengers of flight 6E 173. When asked about their plane, he stated, "The plane is ready, but we don't have a pilot to fly it." He could provide no further details on when a pilot would be available or if the flight was officially delayed or cancelled.
Tempers flared as the situation deteriorated. By 1:45 PM, with no boarding announcement for the 2:15 PM flight, anxiety grew. Passengers for a long-delayed Chennai flight finally began boarding from Gate 38, adding to the confusion. Meanwhile, a newlywed couple, who had been at the airport since 10:30 AM, shared their plight. Their luggage had been checked in without any delay notification, leaving them feeling "helpless and stuck." The husband, an Army personnel, requested anonymity due to media protocols.
The breaking point came around 3 PM. An IndiGo staffer and a passenger nearly came to blows, with the staffer yelling, "Don't you dare touch me," before cooler heads prevailed. It was then that official, yet shifting, information trickled out. Flight 6E 173 was rescheduled for 5 PM, and flight 6E 176 was pushed to 6:30 PM. However, this was just the beginning of the timeline shuffle.
Within half an hour, the departure board updated again, showing flight 6E 176's new time as 7:10 PM, with a gate change to 42. Soon after, it shifted to 8:20 PM. Rumours of a midnight departure or outright cancellation swirled. A call to an aviation correspondent confirmed the systemic uncertainty: even the airline likely did not have a definite departure time.
The Final Decision: Cutting Losses After 8 Hours
Faced with the prospect of wasting the entire day and dreading a repeat on the return journey, a final decision was made. After nearly eight hours of uncertainty, false hope, and poor communication, the only sensible recourse was to cancel the flight altogether—an action that should have been taken 24 hours earlier based on the initial warning. The ordeal underscored a complete failure in customer communication and operational management by one of India's largest carriers.
