Gannavaram: Wrong flight timings on tickets leaves 17 Air India passengers stranded

Gannavaram: Massive goof-up by Air India led to tension in Gannavaram Airport Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, after the flight left 12 hours before. A total of 17 passengers were left stranded as they were unaware of the changed timings.

Air India began flight services from Gannavaram to Kuwait every Wednesday. On March 29, the ticket printed out said the flight to Kuwait was supposed to leave at 1:10 PM (13.10 hours) on Wednesday, but the flight left at 1:10 AM, 12 hrs before.

68 out of 85 passengers noticed the correct time online and took off as scheduled. The rest of the 17 passengers were shell-shocked, and got into a fight with the airlines

According to the passengers, the Air India staff informed the timings of the concerned booking website and passengers. But many passengers have got no information. It is said that around six passengers boarded a flight from Gannavaram, noticing the change in timings. "There are many uneducated persons among us who cannot check the updates online. They could have informed us by phone", said a Passenger.

Passengers stated that they must travel to Kuwait and report by tomorrow or risk losing their contract employment. Nevertheless, given the current scenario, they will only be able to reach till day after tomorrow, and the contractor will take a toss on their contracts.

"When we booked the ticket, it is written as 1:10 PM, and we arrived by 10:00 AM. But the airport staff said the flight had departed by then and the timings were wrong. The ticket cost Rs 18,000 for us, and it is all wasted now. If they are time changes, why did they ask us to come by 10:00 AM? They could have informed us. We have yet to receive any communication from anyone on the updated timings, said one of the passengers, Paul, who works in Kuwait.

With the ticket costing Rs 18,000, the Air India is yet to inform on the refund.

Responding to the incident, Gannavaram Airport Director, Lakshmikanth Reddy said, "Over 15 passengers could not board the Air India Express flight from Vijayawada to Kuwait because the flight was preponed to Wednesday at 9 am". He said that the flight was earlier scheduled to depart 4 hours later. Passengers were informed about the rescheduling, but they are alleging that they were not informed.

It is said that those people who booked tickets through agents were not informed by agents about rescheduling. Those passengers will have to wait until next week for the next flight to Kuwait.