Air India offers Rs 29,000 vouchers to over 200 Delhi-San Francisco flyers after 30-hour flight delay

The Air India flight Thad aged people and children, who were uneasy with the inordinate delay. (Image credit: @shwwetapunj/X)

Following a delay of more than 30 hours for Air India Delhi to San Francisco flight on Saturday due to several "technical and other operational constraints," the airline has offered an apology voucher worth $350 (about Rs 29,000) to each of its more than 200 passengers.

"Please allow me to sincerely apologise, on behalf of Air India, for the extended delay in bringing you to San Francisco, which was caused by several technical delays and other operational constraints," Air India Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Klaus Goersch said in a letter to the flight's passengers, NDTV reported.

As a gesture of apology, the airline offered a "travel voucher worth USD 350" for future travel with the airline, the letter stated.

Flight was rescheduled multiple times since Thursday

More than 200 passengers of the San Francisco-bound Air India flight faced an ordeal at the Delhi airport due to a delay of over 30 hours caused by a technical glitch, the aircraft's non-functional air conditioning system and payload issues.

The flight was originally scheduled to depart from Delhi at 3:30 pm on Thursday but was rescheduled multiple times and finally took off from the Delhi airport at around 9.55 pm hours on Saturday, capping a long wait for the passengers, including aged people and children.

If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is @airindia @DGCAIndia AI 183 flight has been delayed for over 8 hours , passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight.This is inhuman! @JM_Scindia pic.twitter.com/86KpaOAbgb

— Shweta Punj (@shwwetapunj) May 30, 2024

Meanwhile, aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday issued a show cause notice to the airline for some flight delays and failure to take due care of the passengers. It mentioned the inordinate delay of two international flights -- AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24.