Mumbai: passengers protest against Air India after Lucknow-bound flight delayed by 10 hours

Air India Express on Saturday rescheduled its Lucknow-bound flight from Mumbai by 10 hours, citing “operational reasons,” triggering protests and slogan shouting against the Tata Group-owned carrier by some of the affected passengers, a source said.

Air India Express flight AIX-2773 was scheduled to depart from Mumbai at 9.19 pm on Saturday but the airline informed passengers at the last moment that the departure was revised to 7.15 am on Sunday, he said.

Air India Express, in a late evening statement, said it was forced to revise the timing of its flight 'due to inclement weather over Delhi this (Saturday) evening".

"Due to inclement weather over Delhi this evening, a number of flights were diverted, including our Guwahati-Delhi flight, which was diverted to Lucknow. Subsequent flights from Delhi and Mumbai (including Lucknow flight) have also been rescheduled due to the diversion," the Air India Express spokesperson said in the statement.

"We apologise for the inconvenience to our guests due to circumstances beyond our control," the airline added.

Meanwhile, alternatives are being organised, while refreshments, accommodation and transportation are being provided to impacted guests, Air India Express stated.

According to the source, the passengers received a message which read "regret to inform you that the departure of the flight on 16 Sep 2023 IX-2773 BOM-LKO is revised to 17 Sep 2023 07:15 due to operational reasons".

This led to protests and slogan shouting by the passengers against the airline, the source said.

"You may avail one-time free flight change up to 07 days on the same sector or full refund through Tia up to 2 hours prior to scheduled departure time," the message stated.