300 passengers stranded after Air India cancels Chicago-Delhi flight. What you need to know
An Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi was cancelled after being delayed for several hours, leaving around 300 passengers stranded. The flight was scheduled to depart from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday at 1:30 pm local time and arrive in Delhi at 2:20 pm on March 15.
According to reports, the cancellation was reportedly due to technical reasons, although passengers complained that they were not informed about the delays and that the airline did not provide them with alternate arrangements to reach their destination until Wednesday evening.
The situation left many passengers frustrated, with some expressing anger that there was still no clear timeline for when they would be able to fly to Delhi. Despite eventually providing hotel accommodation, the arrangements were made late, and passengers were left waiting for a long time without any information about their flight or accommodation.
A prolonged delay, & eventual cancellation, of #AirIndia flight from #Chicago to #Delhi left passengers fuming, as they complained that they were kept in the dark about delays & the airline did not inform them about alternate arrangements to reach their destination. pic.twitter.com/5x0b16zrzg
— IANS (@ians_india) March 15, 2023
One passenger, who was about to board the flight, told PTI that passengers had been waiting for almost 24 hours and that the "airline does not have an answer for us." He said in a video message recorded from the airport, "We don't know what exactly is going on… we don't know when we are going to fly."
Waiting for air India flight for my sister to go to India at Chicago. Complete disaster. They should shut down this airline. Tata ownership is not doing Jack sh**. #disaster airline
— Ankur Desai (@AnkurHDesai) March 15, 2023
The flight was cancelled due to technical reasons, according to an Air India spokesperson. The airline reportedly offered affected passengers support and accommodations on alternate flights. The spokesperson expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Air India passengers were left to their own devices at an airport. Last month, passengers of a Delhi-Mumbai Air India flight and the airline staff got involved in a heated argument at the Delhi airport after the flight got delayed by almost four hours.
Air India. What in holy hell is going on at T3? Your staff has NO clue whether the plane will take off at all. People have been here for 5 hours. They are encouraging people to offload, & bags are taking 2-3 hrs to reach! Who is supposed to tell customers that?! @airindiain
— Alisha Sachdev (@Alisha2494) March 15, 2023
One of the passengers said that the flight was initially delayed from its original schedule of 8:00 pm to 10:40 pm and then 11:35 pm followed by 12:30 am before finally taking off at 01:48 am from the Terminal-3 of Delhi Airport.
The Indian government recently revealed that a total of 1,171 flights were cancelled in 2022 due to technical reasons, an increase from 931 in 2021 but a decrease from 1,481 in 2020. As airlines continue to recover from the pandemic, many passengers are hoping that their travel experiences will improve, including better communication and support during delays and cancellations.