Passengers sit in snag-hit plane for over an hour

PUNE: Passengers booked on a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Pune on Sunday afternoon were allegedly made to sit in the aircraft for more than an hour before they were told that it would not fly because of a technical snag.
Brejender Batra, who was on the flight, posted a 44-second video on Twitter stating that they were made to sit for an hour and fifteen minutes in the plane after boarding. “The flight was supposed to depart from Delhi at 4.55pm. The boarding happened around 4.30pm. The passengers held their patience while sitting in the aircraft with the cabin crew not providing much information. Around 6.15pm, the captain suddenly announced that the aircraft would not be able to take off as there was a technical snag and that it was being taken to the bay area,” the man wrote on Twitter.

The flight’s scheduled arrival time in Pune is 6.50pm.

“All the passengers were extremely frustrated by then. The plane was taken to the bay area and all the passengers were asked to leave the aircraft, which we did. Then, at 7.15pm, we were asked to board a different aircraft and it finally took off at 7.45pm. The flight landed in Pune around 9.20pm. During the waiting period, no snacks and refreshments were served. Being a diabetic, I went through a horrible time and I could only get coffee around 8.45pm,” Batra added on Twitter.

Another passenger questioned on why the airline kept flyers waiting in the aircraft for such a long time. “Sitting in the plane which isn’t flying for such a long time is frustrating. They could have been shifted to the terminal building quite early as engineers didn’t know how long they would take to rectify the snag,” the passenger said.

SpiceJet was sent a query about the incident at 8pm on Monday, but a reply was awaited till going to press. A source in the low-cost airline said he would come back with a reply, which was also awaited.