Chaos at Heathrow as AI passengers stranded for three days
Exhausted and angry, passengers became irate on Wednesday night at Heathrow airport staff when there was no aircraft to board, which led to armed police being drafted in to maintain order.
The 293 passengers were originally meant to have boarded Flight AI 130 at 1.15 pm local time on Tuesday. At first they were told there was a one-and-a-half-hour delay, but it ended up being a 48-hour delay.
The passengers, including young children and the elderly in wheelchairs, were finally put on the repaired plane on Thursday at 2 pm local time, having spent two nights in different Heathrow airport hotels.
Debashis Golder, AI regional manager for UK and Europe, said three engineers arrived in London from Mumbai with parts from the aeroplane engine manufacturer, GE, on May 29 to repair the “fuel leak”, but could not repair the aircraft before 9 pm so take-off was delayed to May 30. He said the aircraft “finally departed on Thursday at 2.09 pm with 288 passengers on board as that was the only slot air traffic control could provide”. Some passengers had taken alternate flights. He said the May 29 Flight AI 130, which took off at 9.30 pm, had had 329 passengers on board and was eight hours late because the incoming flight from Mumbai was delayed. Passengers would be compensated “as per governing rules”, he said.
The 1.15 pm AI London to Mumbai flight on May 29 was also delayed — by eight hours — and those passengers were sent to the same hotel room as the May 28 passengers, meaning all day Wednesday 600 AI passengers were stranded at Heathrow. The May 29 flight eventually took off at 9.30 pm Wednesday. But the May 28 flight did not.
AI aircraft engineers were flown in from Mumbai on Flight A131 on Wednesday — itself delayed by seven hours — carrying parts to repair the May 28 aircraft and the passengers were promised they could depart at 10 pm. But that did not happen.
They went through customs and security and were given boarding passes and seats but no gate. They waited airside for their flight but no aircraft appeared and eventually the police were called.
A video shared with TOI shows passengers shouting at a lone member of staff from Heathrow and a group of armed officers arriving. A Met Police spokeswoman told TOI that officers were sent to the scene “as a precautionary measure and to prevent any breach of the peace”. “There has been no disorder and no arrests,” she said.
Heather Gupta, 49, a British HR director who was to take the flight with her two children, said: “There was just one Air India woman who spoke to us and she was clueless and did not know anything, and then she disappeared. Passengers were going crazy. They were irate. It was mental and no one had any idea what was going on. The police came around 10.30 pm and said we had to leave and they took us back through immigration. But we never got our luggage back as that was checked in so none of us had any clothes.”
Passengers then spent another night in a different hotel before being bussed back to the airport at 10 am Thursday. Many of them, en route from the US and Canada, had 24-hour visas that had expired and duty-free liquids in their hand luggage.
“We never got our luggage back so I just hope it is on this flight,” Gupta said, speaking to TOI from the aircraft before it took off. “We have not been offered any compensation, I have just been given a ‘without prejudice’ letter,” Gupta added.
Gupta had shelled out Rs 2.5 lakh for three return tickets with Jet Airways. Those flights were cancelled and she received no refund for them. She then spent a further Rs 2.85 lakh on three Air India tickets.
Several passengers joined a WhatsApp group set up by Instalocate that claims it can get them compensation of euro 600 per flight per passenger under EU laws, but Gupta said it charged a 25% commission.
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References
- ^ London (www.happytrips.com)
- ^ Heathrow airport (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ engineers (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ air traffic control (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ Jet Airways (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
from UK News Headlines, Latest UK News and Live Updates - Times of India http://bit.ly/2Kb4NNI
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