Hundreds of Air India (AI) passengers had a harrowing time at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Saturday as four flights of the national carrier were delayed due to the global shutdown of its check-in software for more than five hours due to a technical snag. Although the passenger service system (PSS) software, which looks after check-in, baggage and reservation, did not work from 3.30 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. on Saturday, the AI flights originating from the premier airport from here to Delhi, Chennai, Bengalaru and Male after 6 a.m. were hit.
As the airline staff was unable to issue boarding pass to the passengers, commotion prevailed in the terminal building for hours. Those proceeding on connection flights from the metros in flights and trains to the final destination were the worst hit.
The four AI flights were delayed by 45 minutes to over six-and-a-half hours. “We had to depend on the manual system to issue boarding pass to the passengers in three flights to avoid further delays to the flights. Normalcy had been restored,” AI station manager S. B. S. Jacob said. The AI 466 flight to Delhi via Kochi left after a delay of 45 minutes and the AI 968 flight to Chennai was delayed by 40 minutes. The AI 584 flight to Bengalaru got delayed by 55 minutes and the AI 263 flight from Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram and Male was delayed by over six-and-a-half hours.