IAS officer slams Go First over delay: ‘Captain went off to another flight’

Go First passengers waited for nearly 2 hours after boarding the aircraft (Image credit: @sonalgoelias/Twitter)

IAS officer Sonal Goel slammed Go First for “pathetic handling of flight operations” after her flight was delayed by nearly two hours on Friday night. Goel was among the dozens of passengers who were made to wait inside the aircraft as a captain was not available. She shared a picture of passengers – including young children and elderly people – who were forced to sit inside the aircraft for nearly two hours without access to food.

Go First Flight G8 345 from Mumbai to Delhi departed one hour and 45 minutes after its scheduled departure time of 10.30 pm on April 7. The ultra-low cost airline informed passengers that the flight was delayed as its captain “went off to another flight,” Goel said, questioning why passengers had to suffer because of the airline’s mismanagement.

Her first tweet came after she had waited inside the plane for over an hour. “It’s more than 1 hour delay & passengers are stuck up inside plane, with airline staff saying that the Captain is not available,” IAS officer Sonal Goel tweeted.

Unexpected and pathetic handling of flight operations by @GoFirstairways

The Flight G8 345 from Mumbai to Delhi was scheduled to depart at 22:30 hrs .
Its more than 1 hour delay & passengers are stuck up inside plane;
With airline staff saying that the Captain is not available. pic.twitter.com/SwEkaoZqMe

— Sonal Goel IAS (@sonalgoelias) April 7, 2023

“They are not serving anything to eat in flight except water. There was no communication through any means about the delay of flight earlier,” the Resident Commissioner of Tripura Bhawan in New Delhi wrote.

Go First responded to her complaint on Twitter, blaming the delay on unforeseen circumstances. “We work hard to run an on-time airline; however, unforeseen events sometimes challenge us. Sorry, this happened with your flight,” the airline wrote.

Hi Sonal, we hear you and apologize for the delay that you've experienced. We work hard to run an on-time airline; however, unforeseen events sometimes challenge us. Sorry, this happened with your flight. In the future, we'll try harder to meet your expectations.

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— GO FIRST (@GoFirstairways) April 7, 2023

Goel did not buy the explanation and asked the airline to fix accountability while noting that she and other passengers were still waiting for their flight to depart.

Still there is no indication as to what time will the flight depart.

Pls enquire about the reasons and fix accountability of the staff/ officers due to which such situation has happened.
Thanks https://t.co/eZ58grNDZG

— Sonal Goel IAS (@sonalgoelias) April 7, 2023

“The delay was almost 1 hr 45 mins. Reason conveyed to passengers was that the Captain of Flight went off to another flight so they were arranging another Captain. Is this kind of unprofessional handling acceptable?” she asked.

The delay was almost 1 hr 45 mins. Reason conveyed to passengers was that the Captain of Flight went off to another flight .
So they were arranging another Captain.
Is this kind of unprofessional handling acceptable?
Our citizens of country don’t deserve this kind of handling

— Sonal Goel IAS (@sonalgoelias) April 8, 2023