As I waited to board my flight from terminal 2, gate 51 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport, I tried catching a wink, almost wafting away to a good sleep. But I guess that would have been a little too perfect. Just like that idyllic situation, where everyone and everything stuck to a schedule. Because by that logic, my
But then, as I gulped down on my fourth can of iced tea, half-asleep and tiredly waiting for the boarding to begin in Mumbai at 1:30 am on Saturday (31st August), I realised it wasn’t an ideal world by a far stretch, and my sweet dreams would have to wait.
Delays, Delays, Delays
The carrier, Indigo, had one response- Mumbai’s severely congested airspace was causing all the ruckus. My tirades on sleep aside, I was wondering if my fellow passengers and I would be eligible for any compensation or redressal for this inconvenience. A snack, some fare concession, maybe?But as I was soon reminded, congestion happens to be a pretty regular feature at the Mumbai airport. News of flight delays at CST is not unusual, and the airport is infamous for having aeroplanes hovering over it for as long as 60 minutes, all in search of a runway to land.
It also did not help that I was travelling on the country’s busiest sector. But then, Indigo prides itself for its “best on-time performance”, and should come through. Which is why some of my co-passengers, who had connecting flights from Delhi’s IGI airport, which they were now sure to miss, thanks to this delay, would strongly disagree. Afterall, one delay has a cascading effect on the other arriving and departing flights of the same sector.
Source: DGCA Air traffic statistics
It was not a one-off incident as well. For instance, on August 23rd, flight 6E651, which was supposed to land at 12:25 am, touched down in Delhi at 2:03 am. The next day, it was 2:48 am. August 25th was the worst, with the flight, which was originally supposed to depart at 10:15 finally taking off at 3:27 am, making its way to Delhi by 5:10 am.
According to Indian regulations, in case a person misses their connecting flight due to such a delay, the initial airline is supposed to either provide an alternate flight, or provide commensurate compensation, based on the flight’s
So, if the flight is delayed by up to one hour post its block time, a compensation of Rs 5,000 or the cost of one-way ticket (basic fare plus fuel charge), whichever is less, is payable.
If the delay post block time exceeds one hour, but is less than 2 hours, the cost of a one-way ticket (basic fare plus fuel charge), or Rs 7,500, whichever is less. And if the delay exceeds 2 hours, the compensation increases up to Rs 10,000, or the cost of a one-way ticket (basic fare plus fuel charge), whichever is less.
I wouldn’t bore you with the complex process that is used to calculate this block time. Suffice to say that it varies from airline to airline, leaving scope for huge differences to creep in. For instance, as media reports suggest, Indigo averages 129 minutes on Mumbai-Delhi route, while Vistara averages 132 minutes, and Air India has a block time of around 138 minutes. There has been news of rationalizing these block times and making them uniform since 2019, but, much like Mumbai's runways, a take-off on this plan seems hard to come by.
For the longest time, Indigo was thought to have built high buffers in their block timings to arrive early and claim
Refreshments? Not so much
Finally, my flight made it to the taxi barely within the block time limits, despite the delay. Rohini (name changed), a passenger and fellow GFF attendee, who works in a Gurgaon-based startup, also recounted her frustrating experience with Indigo. Her early morning flight from Delhi to Mumbai on Wednesday (28th August), the first day of GFF, had also been delayed by over 2 hours.And as DGCA rules dictate, passengers are entitled for meals and refreshments at the airport, if their flights are delayed by less than 24 hours. If the
Rohini mentioned not getting anything of this sort. In my case as well, except for an insipid announcement made by the on-ground staff regarding availing KFC vouchers for refreshments, which was not heard by the majority of people, no one was given anything. However, post a few other passengers raised their voices, passengers of the Indigo flight flying to Delhi after ours were asked to collect their KFC vouchers. When I reached out to Indigo for this story, there was no comment from their end.
Personal or work-related travel might lead me to fly Indigo again, or maybe not. But the next time I fly, I'd be a more aware and informed passenger, who would not settle for subpar customer service. So should you.