Indigo turns hours long Bahrain-Mangaluru flight into two-day harrowing journey

TDT | Manama                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Report by Zahra Ayaz

On any given day, it takes just a few hours for a flight from Bahrain to land in Mangaluru, India.

However, this Indigo Airlines flight reportedly took a whopping two days to reach its destination, media reports say, quoting disgruntled passengers.

Passengers blame their harrowing experience on the multiple goofs the airline made, starting while in Bahrain.

The ordeal began with the airline rescheduling the flight by 24 hours due to a bird strike, leaving passengers in the lurch with no accommodation offered.

The following day, the flight was again delayed by two hours while waiting for a missing passenger, causing 12 passengers to miss their connecting flight from Mumbai to Mangaluru.

They reportedly had to wait for more than 12 hours to catch another flight.

“Disgusting isn’t the word, but sadly we had to face all this and most of the time we were suppressed as we couldn’t raise our voices and didn’t know where the support would come from,” said a passenger on the flight in a report by Time Now News.

“It was only in Mumbai that we dared to raise our voice when we lost our connecting flights and were given the option to return home only after going on another connecting flight of 6 hours.

The staff in the Kingdom as well as in Mumbai, kept them waiting.” What does the airline say about it? A statement by the airline published by local media reads: “IndiGo flight 6E1403 operating from Mumbai to Bahrain faced a bird strike on arrival at Bahrain, due to which the aircraft had to be grounded.

Subsequently, flight 6E1404 to be operated from Bahrain to Mumbai was delayed. “All the affected customers were provided with accommodation, meals, and assistance.

They were accommodated on the next available flight. The customers were also offered the option of a full refund for their tickets.

The grounded aircraft was released back into service after a thorough inspection as per protocol.

"Customer safety is always of paramount importance to us.” “We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers,” read a press release by IndiGo Airlines.