Passengers Stop SpiceJet Flights in Mumbai After 16-Hour Delay

Dhiraj Mishra took to Twitter and said, “No explanation, no specific reasons, no funds?”

Chaos erupted at Chhtatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai on Saturday, 13 July, as a number of passengers stopped SpiceJet flights from taking off.

The tedious delay of the Durgapur-bound SpiceJet flight, which was cancelled after a 16-hour wait on Saturday morning ‘due to technical reasons’ prompted the ire of passengers.

The flight was initially scheduled to take off at 7:50 am on Friday, 12 July, but was cancelled on Saturday morning. Later on the same day, passengers were called in again, however, much to their dismay, the flight was further delayed.

Around 130 Disgruntled Passengers Made to Wait

Dhiraj Mishra, district governor of BJP IT Cell of Thane took to Twitter and said, “No explanation, no specific reasons, no funds?”

@flyspicejet cancelled flight for Durgapur yesterday and today.
No #explanation, No #specific #reasons, no #refunds??@CMOMaharashtra @Dev_Fadnavis @AmitShahOffice @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/JASpeUa0oY

— Dhiraj R.Mishra (@DhirajRMishra3) July 13, 2019

They delayed the flight yesterday and then cancelled it for technical reasons. They called the passengers again this morning along with a fresh batch of passengers. The flight got cancelled again today. https://t.co/K5MRgHgned

— Ranjit Rana (@ranjitrana4u) July 13, 2019

An aggrieved passenger, Sudpito Sannigrahi, lashed out against the airline.

@flyspicejet SG 6354 Mum to Dgp flight cancelled yesterday. Passengers asked to come again today, made to wait for hrs with no clarity on when flight takes off while other routes run seamlessly! If you don’t want to run a route don’t ply but have basic passenger experience.

— Sudipto Sannigrahi (@sudiptosannigr) July 13, 2019

Another passenger, Santanu Ghosh, went a step further and urged the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to take immediate action against SpiceJet.

@DGCAIndia need to take immediate action against SpiceJet. They are cancelling flight to Durgapur of West Bengal for consecutive 2 days in pretext of technical error. Causing huge suffering to aged and ill passengers . Is it not mockery to UDAN scheme?

— Santanu Ghosh (@dubai_santanu) July 13, 2019

Inconvenience Caused is Deeply Regretted: SpiceJet

The official account of SpiceJet actively replied to the concerns of passengers on Twitter but to no avail as the notifications were sent a bit too late.

In a reply to Ghosh, SpiceJet tweeted:

The flight is delayed due to technical reasons and we're trying our best to expedite the departure. As of now, the flight is expected to depart at 1040 hrs. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.

— SpiceJet (@flyspicejet) July 13, 2019

However, even the airline’s attempt to amend the inconvenience caused by them was met with the passengers’ anger as the notification was not sent timely.

I do not disagree with you but at what time passenger were notified? For 7.50AM flight you were supposed to inform me at least 2 hrs early not after 2 hrs of scheduled time . For spiceMax I received call twice in last two days but not for this

— ajay (@_ajaykr_) July 13, 2019

The airline immediately responded and said, “We understand your concern, but since this was a last minute delay, we couldn’t notify you earlier.”