Mumbai:

Air India flight AI-179 scheduled to depart from Mumbai to San Francisco at 4 pm (local time) on Friday was delayed due to a technical issue and is now rescheduled to depart at 10:30 am on Saturday.

The flight was pushed back to 7:17 pm, however, it had to ramp return due to one passenger feeling unwell. The ailing passenger deboarded the flight, however, the night landing restrictions at SFO had set in along with the crew flight duty limitations.

In a statement, an Air India spokesperson stated, “AI-179 from Mumbai to San Francisco, scheduled to depart at 1600 hrs today, was delayed due to a technical issue arising just before departure. Giving top priority to safety issues, the aircraft was held back for engineering checks.”

“Meanwhile, a few guests decided to discontinue the journey and the flight got further delayed as their baggage had to be offloaded from the aircraft. The flight pushed back at 1917 hours but had to ramp return due to one guest feeling unwell. While the ailing guest was being deboarded with his baggage, the night landing restrictions at SFO had set in along with the crew flight duty limitations,” it added.

According to the statement, passengers were offered hotel accommodation, complimentary rescheduling, and served refreshments at the airport.

Air India spokesperson stated, “Guests have been offered hotel accommodation, complimentary rescheduling and full refunds and served refreshments at the airport. The flight has now been rescheduled at 1030 hours tomorrow (Saturday). Inconvenience caused to guests is sincerely regretted.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Air India Express on Saturday rescheduled its Lucknow-bound flight from Mumbai by 10 hours, citing “operational reasons,” triggering protests and slogan shouting against the Tata Group-owned carrier by some of the affected passengers, a source said.

Air India Express flight AIX-2773 was scheduled to depart from Mumbai at 9.19 pm on Saturday but the airline informed passengers at the last moment that the departure was revised to 7.15 am on Sunday, he said.

Air India Express, in a late evening statement, said it was forced to revise the timing of its flight ‘due to inclement weather over Delhi this (Saturday) evening”.

“Due to inclement weather over Delhi this evening, a number of flights were diverted, including our Guwahati-Delhi flight, which was diverted to Lucknow. Subsequent flights from Delhi and Mumbai (including Lucknow flight) have also been rescheduled due to the diversion,” the Air India Express spokesperson said in the statement.

“We apologise for the inconvenience to our guests due to circumstances beyond our control,” the airline added.

Meanwhile, alternatives are being organised, while refreshments, accommodation and transportation are being provided to impacted guests, Air India Express stated.

According to the source, the passengers received a message which read “regret to inform you that the departure of the flight on 16 Sep 2023 IX-2773 BOM-LKO is revised to 17 Sep 2023 07:15 due to operational reasons”.

This led to protests and slogan shouting by the passengers against the airline, the source said.

“You may avail one-time free flight change up to 07 days on the same sector or full refund through Tia up to 2 hours prior to scheduled departure time,” the message stated.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)