AC Put On Full Blast To Hound Us Out: Passengers Of Delayed AirAsia Flight

An AirAsia flight from Kolkata to Bagdogra became nothing short of a nightmare for some passengers who got into an altercation with the airline staff about a delay in their scheduled flight timing. Their woes did not end there.

Indian Oil Corporation Executive Director (West Bengal) Dipankar Ray, who was also a passenger on the same flight, told, “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.”

Reportedly, the captain of the aircraft asked the passengers to deboard the plane even as it was raining heavily outside. When the passengers refused to do so, the captain put the air-conditioning blower on full blast to hound the passengers out.

Recounting The Experiences

“When passengers refused to deboard due to heavy rains outside, the captain put the air-conditioning blower on full blast to hound the passengers out. It created a scary scene as heavy fog was created inside the plane and it was very suffocating,” Mr Ray told PTI.

He further added that women passengers even started vomiting while the children on-board started crying.

Recounting his horrible experiences, Mr Ray took to social media where he expressed his displeasure with the company’s management and even uploaded a video. Mr Ray tweeted the video post by saying, “Avoid @AirAsia, they may choke you to death”.

This is the way @AirAsia choked us out for deplaning when we asked them the alternate arrangement after flight i50582 was grounded after boarding @sureshpprabhu ..
Avoid @AirAsia , they may choke you to death pic.twitter.com/siaSut0dMK

— Dipankar Ray (@dray_ioc) June 20, 2018

In this video, a woman can be heard saying, “Seriously, we are getting suffocated”. Not only that, but people can be heard coughing as well.

Air Asia’s Statement

After assessing the situation, AirAsia in a statement said, “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”.

Addressing the much-complained issue of the AC that was turned on full blast, the company said, “There was no danger to any of the occupants onboard the aircraft as the cool conditioned air being circulated was condensing. This is a normal occurrence onboard all aircraft when the air conditioning is operated in high humidity conditions”.

Additionally, the airlines said that all the affected guests were offered refreshments and provided with alternate arrangements that had been requested for.

According to NDTV, Mr Ray countered the statement by saying that even though the airlines had asked the passengers to go to the food court and show the boarding pass to avail food, there was no communication from AirAsia’s side. All the passengers had to pay for their own food, claimed Mr Ray. Reportedly, once the passengers boarded the flight for the second time, they were offered only a sandwich and a 250ml bottle of water.

Aviation Ministry’s statement

“DGCA is reviewing the incident, and we will take appropriate follow-up action,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha retweeted a tweet complaining about the incident.

DGCA is reviewing the incident and we will take appropriate follow up action. https://t.co/Ymc0lpNTuS

— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) June 21, 2018

The Logical Indian Take

It is quite disappointing to see an airline with such a repute being so negligent to their passengers. Episodes of airlines mistreating passengers have been on the rise lately. Airline crew are expected to be more sympathetic towards passengers and not treat them as a mere commodity

The Logical Indian strongly condemns the complete mismanagement on the airlines part and hopes that such incidents don’t happen again.

Also read: No AC For Hours, Passengers Recount Horrifying Experience While Traveling With Singapore Airlines