Flight delays may be one of the risks that passengers have to take, but travellers between Kolkata and Bagdogra, who took the AirAsia India flight, were in for a rude shock when the crew onboard reportedly asked them to de-board without any explanations. The staff allegedly misbehaved with a few people who were asked to deplane the flight that was delayed for over four hours.
Indian Oil Corporation Executive Director (West Bengal) Dipankar Ray, who was also travelling in the same flight, claimed that the staff was “unprofessional and rude”. “The flight was scheduled to depart at 9 am and was initially delayed by 30 minutes. After boarding, we kept sitting inside the aircraft for one-and-a-half hours with no food or water at all,” he told PTI.
In a video shot by Ray that is now being widely shared, passengers are seen arguing with the staff on-board and switching off the blower.
Passengers apparently refused to deplane because it was raining heavily, however, the captain allegedly resorted to extreme measures such as putting the air conditioner on full blast to drive out people. Ray claimed that this made women passengers nauseous and children started crying.
AirAsia, in a statement, termed this a ‘normal occurrence’. “AirAsia India would like to confirm that flight i5583 from Kolkata to Bagdogra was delayed by 4.5 hours due to a technical requirement. AirAsia regrets the inconvenience caused to guests on account of this disruption and would like to reinstate that the airline always prioritises safety above all. This is a normal occurrence on-board all aircraft when the air conditioning is operated in high humidity conditions,” the statement said.
Naturally, Twitter was up in arms against AirAsia staff for treating the passengers this way.
@AirAsiaSupport @AirAsia Now I am scared to get into your plane due to recent news of your staff behavior and unapologetic public statement. Should I cancel and avoid your future flights?
— Indian Society (@justanotherindn) June 21, 2018
Delay for heavy rain can be justified but #airasia should be definitely booked and banned for hounding the passengers on board.
— b+ve (@myWittyEar) June 21, 2018
I’ll never travel Air Asia again! When in Bali my return flt ( yes Air Asia) was suddenly cancelled, available a day later & I had to pay xtra day hotel fare! Now this! https://t.co/q9U3yG6tjR
— Rian (@Lapogrian) June 21, 2018
@CNNnews18 #Airasia Same problem we also faced with Air Asia flight 26/5/2018 Flight from Kualalumpur to Singapore. Stranded inside aircraft for more than 2 hrs. Full on AC , no water or food supply provided and no announcement till 10min before flight took off. Pathetic.
— Neha (@nm_hs_rms) June 21, 2018
One of them even provided a contact for AC repair service
@AirAsia, just for your reference.
Specially When your pilot changes his mind,he doesn’t want to take off the flight and flight ACs don’t work enough to take temperature down to 10-16℃. Contacts them if they can help you in your emergency⬇#Airasia https://t.co/OFg7y9x4tM
— Arnish
