Imagine this scenario.
You’re on time to make your flight – you’ve survived the nightmare of airport security and now you’re anxious to just get to your final destination already.
So you hop on the shuttlebus to take you to your plane… only to get there and helplessly watch the plane take off without you (but with your luggage) – while you’re literally stuck on the tarmac.
Sound crazy?
Well this is exactly what happened to 55 passengers in India.
Fifty-five passengers were actually FORGOTTEN by Indian airline, Go First Airways… and their flight took off without them!
Four buses of passengers were supposed to depart on the 6:20am flight from Bengaluru to Delhi –– but only three buses of passengers were loaded onto the plane…
… leaving 55 passengers sitting there helplessly while they watched the plane take off without them.
Absolute insanity.
NDTV reported:
“The DGCA or Directorate General of Civil Aviation said today it is “looking into the matter” after many passengers slammed the airline on Twitter, calling it a “most horrifying experience”…
Passengers were taken in four buses to the aircraft. Some 55 passengers kept waiting in one of the buses as the Go First plane took off, according to complaints on Twitter tagging the airline, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office.
The passengers had their boarding passes and their bags were all checked in.
Go First Airways, responding to the tweets, said: “We regret the inconvenience caused.”
The passengers were reportedly accommodated on a flight that left four hours later, around 10 am. “We have sought a report from the airline and appropriate action shall be taken,” a DGCA official was quoted as saying by reports.”
I mean seriously.
How does airline management just “forget” 55 passengers waiting on the tarmac to get on the plane?!
… and when the “forgotten” passengers expressed their dissatisfaction with the airline on its twitter page – the airline simply replied “we regret the inconvenience caused.”
Unbelievable!
While mistakes are bound to happen in life because we are all human…
… mistakes shouldn’t include leaving 55 people stranded on a tarmac!
The flight crew knew who was supposed to be on the flight.
Did no one realize something was off?
If there were four buses… but only three of them were loaded onto the plane…
… how did nobody catch this?
There’s no room for communication breakdowns when passengers lives literally depend on the airline and staff to get them from point A to point B safely.
Thankfully nobody was hurt in this massive mix-up – but it sounds like across the globe the ineptitude of the airline companies has reached an all-time high.
Let’s hope the right folks in India hold Go First accountable for this inexcusable mix-up.
What are your thoughts on an airline forgetting 55 passengers on the tarmac?
How would you respond if this happened to you?
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