- An
Air India flight carrying 323 passengers was due to land inChicago but because of bad weather, it was diverted toMilwaukee . - The flight could have gone back to Chicago in two hours but a strict flight duty time limitation (FDTL) of the crew rule left passengers stuck inside the plane for over 28 hours.
- Air India was also slapped with a $8.8 million penalty fee for 'tarmac delay'.
The flight carrying 323 passengers was due to land in Chicago but because of bad weather, it was diverted to Milwaukee airport, just 19 minutes flight time away. Ideally, the flight could have flown back to Chicago after two hours but a recent mandate by the
Needless to say, this caused the unwarranted six-hour delay but passenger woes did not end there. The passengers were not allowed to get off the plane since the Milwaukee airport that was overburdened by a number of diverted flights had no gates available for the passengers to disembark. Among the passengers were a number of wheelchair-bound people, infants and an autistic child who was on her first flight. This kid had to seek medical attention at the Milwaukee airport. By the time the flight reached its final destination, the passengers were inside the flight for over 28 hours in all.
Air India’s woes were multiplied when they were slapped with $8.8 million penalty fee for 'tarmac delay' that is to be paid to the passengers. The US guideline states that if international flights’ passengers are onboard for more than four hours, the airline is liable to pay $27,500 per passenger onboard.
Air India, along with and the
And the abovementioned incident was cited as an example in court during the hearing on 15 May.
"A diversion by its very nature is unscheduled -- diversion due to medical emergency or any other reason. In such cases unless dispensation (variation) is accorded, flights will be grounded and passengers put to untold hardships. This is not to mention the huge penalties involved," said an airline official.