Air India’s San Francisco flight from Bengaluru suffers 13-hour delay

Air India

Air India’s direct flight AI 175 between Bengaluru and San Francisco was delayed by 13 hours on December 21, multiple sources told Moneycontrol.

The flight scheduled to depart from Bengaluru at 1420 IST on December 21 was delayed and took take off at 0326 IST on December 22, leaving passengers stranded at the airport for nearly 13 hours.

Several passengers took to Twitter to point out the delay in the flight, adding that elderly passengers and passengers with small children had been struggling at the airport.

“Was supposed to fly from Bangalore to SFO today at 2:20PM! But the flight is just constantly getting delayed by 2 hours and now stands at a 10h delay! @airindiain hasn’t communicated clearly to its passengers,” Aishwarya Rao tweeted.

Similarly, Ganesh K. Ramamoorthy took to Twitter to say that elder passengers and kids were struggling at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

Air India’s official twitter handle responded to customers saying that the airline’s ground team was providing all required assistance to passengers.

“Meal and refreshments are being served currently to passengers waiting at the airport and accommodation if needed. As per the latest update, the flight will depart at 0300hrs,” Air India’s official twitter handle said.

An Air India spokesperson said that due to a technical issue leading to thorough checks, the flight got delayed. “Since we accord top priority to safety issues, it was subsequently decided not to operate the aircraft till detailed engineering checks are carried out.”

The spokesperson added that while efforts were made to arrange another aircraft and crew, there were some progressive delays. “Our guests were taken care of with refreshments and lounge/hotel facilities as desired. The flight is now departing at 3am with all 206 passengers, who were originally booked to fly.”

Air India resumed its non-stop flight connecting Bengaluru and San Francisco on December 2 after the route was closed for nearly nine months. Air India plans to operate the flight thrice a week on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays, with its Boeing 777-200LR aircraft.

The airline had launched its first direct flight between the cities on January 9, 2021, (from the US) and operated its last flight in March 2022.

The direct distance between the two cities is approximately 13,993 km and they are diametrically at opposite ends of the world, with a time zone change of around 13.5 hours. The total flight time on this route will be more than 17 hours depending on the wind speed on that particular day.

Air India operates 37 non-stop flights a week between India and the United States. The airline also operates non-stop flights from Delhi to New York, Newark, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Chicago and from Mumbai to Newark.