'Treated like cattle': Indigo flyers recount harrowing experience after Istanbul-Mumbai flight cancellation

Indigo stated the flight was cancelled due to technical reasons.

Indigo flyers who were scheduled to take the Istanbul-Mumbai flight on July 2 before it was cancelled abruptly have taken to social media to share accounts of their harrowing experience. From waiting for more than eight hours for an alternative flight to "being treated like cattle", several Indigo passengers have called their experience with the airline "poor".

Twitter user and film critic Sucharita was supposed to take a flight from Istanbul to Mumbai said that she found out her flight was cancelled hours before departure but the airline did not alert her. In fact, when she checked online, the flight status showed that the departure was scheduled on time.

She got to know about the cancellation when she called up Indigo customer care after coming across a tweet by another Indigo passenger of the same flight stating that it had been cancelled abruptly.

"Literally saw this tweet right now and decided to call Indigo to check my flight status for tonight (online it's scheduled on time), after I call I'm informed the flight is cancelled," Sucharita wrote. "How can you just up and cancel long-scheduled international flights without so much as an email? I'm supposed to leave for the airport in four hours."

Literally saw this tweet right now and decided to call @IndiGo6E to check my flight status for tonight (online it's scheduled on time), AFTER I call Im informed the flight is canceled?!?!? WTF @IndiGo6E !? https://t.co/T70qW3sE5k

— Sucharita (@Su4ita) July 2, 2023

Sucharita added that the Indigo international flight was a codeshare with
Turkish Airlines. "The first part of the leg is cancelled. How am I to make my second flight?" she tweeted. Codeshare is an arrangement between two or more airlines in which one company operates a flight and another sells seats on it, using their own flight number.

Sucharita added that on calling Turkish Airlines she found out that they did not even know that Indigo had cancelled its flight -- the decision possibly affecting hundreds of flyers.

Later, however, Sucharita revealed that the matter was resolved after an Indigo support staff helped her with alternatives.

HUGE thank you to Snigdha at @IndiGo6E for being the only one helping me patiently last night. Give her a Diwali bonus and a raise Indigo, for the dedication she has to your brand.

— Sucharita (@Su4ita) July 3, 2023

Another flyer, Gunjan Savla, tweeted that she had to wait for more than eight hours for an update with no proper services being offered to the stranded passengers. "No update of cancelled flight 6E18 from Istanbul to Mumbai on 2nd July. Now more than 8 hours. Passengers are stranded with no proper arrangement of sitting, or eating. Such poor service," she tweeted.

@IndiGo6E No update of cancelled flight 6E18 from Istanbul to Mumbai on 2nd July. Now more than 8 hours. Passengers are stranded with no proper arrangement of sitting, eating. Such poor service pic.twitter.com/C0wLCvfzRv

— Gunjan Savla (@savgunjan) July 3, 2023

Another passenger pointed out that while Indigo did not make any arrangements for accommodation in the interim period when he finally reached Mumbai after paying Rs 28,000 extra for his luggage, he realised that the bags never arrived.

@IndiGo6E Indigo’s treatment to passengers 1.Flight 6E18 cancelled 1 hour before departure 2.4 hrs transit time becomes 12 hrs https://t.co/xcNR4IysHq accommodation provided 4.Redirected on a 2 stop flight to Mumbai 5.Paid extra 28000 for baggage (contd)

— M. (@MindfulDreamer_) July 3, 2023

Indigo flyer Varun T Wanvari shared a Twitter thread detailing how he and other passengers had to struggle to find food and water and had to wait on the airport floor due to the limited availability of chairs while Indigo officials who promised to help them out allegedly went home for the day and were not reachable thereafter.

Wanvari also said that the Turkish Ground Services (TGS) treated them like "cattle" while they waited for updates from Indigo. "The TGS staff which was coordinating this on behalf of Indigo treated us like cattle, and not like humans. They kept telling us that they cannot do anything since Indigo had not informed them on the way forward, & were rude and unhelpful when we asked them for updates," he tweeted.

The flyer added that he and other passengers were owed a compensation for the delay, but the airline have been refusing to cooperate for it.

9. We have been denied basic services like food, water and a place to sleep. As per EU flight compensation laws, we are entitled for a compensation upto €600 per person - the @IndiGo6E staff is not helping us with any info on the same as well.

— Varun T Wanvari (@varuntw) July 4, 2023

Indigo in a statement to CNBCTV 18 said the flight was cancelled due to technical reasons. “IndiGo flight 6E 18 operating Istanbul-Mumbai-Istanbul on 2nd/3rd July was cancelled due to a technical issue. Passengers had been offered alternate options. The aircraft is back in operation after necessary maintenance. We regret the inconvenience caused to passenger,” it stated.

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