Srinagar, July 27: The early morning cancellation of Air India flight at Srinagar Airport causes inconvenience to passengers.
A group of passengers said that they were scheduled to travel by Air India flight No. 832 to Delhi in morning at 7:45 am. “The airline cancelled the flight without giving any prior information to the travellers,” they said.
The passengers said that some students had also booked the flight and the cancellation took toll on them.
“My nephew who is a student was scheduled to travel to Paris via Air India connecting flight. He had to stay back as the flight got cancelled without any reason. When we call customer care, they pass the buck while making the travellers suffer. Our family regularly travels abroad and this is not the first time these flights are getting cancelled without giving any reason,” said Shamim Shah, a traveller.
“Now the airline is giving us the option to travel on Friday from the Airline. Another issue is that the airline is asking the passengers to travel to Delhi and catch the international flight for the next day. Although the cancellation of the flight is done on their part, the airline does not provide accommodation. Instead they want us to spend extra money on a hotel stay for their mistake,” he added.
Another passenger said that many Kashmiris opt for the morning connecting flight to save the expenses and if the flight gets cancelled, it takes a toll on them.
“We take an early morning flight to Delhi for boarding connecting flight the same day to abroad. If the flight gets cancelled or delayed, we have to spend money for a night’s stay for none of our fault. Unfortunately, passengers get to know about cancellation while arriving at the airport. Many had already travelled from across Kashmir to catch the flight and were left in a lurch,” said another passenger.
When contacted, the Air India’s station manager at Srinagar Airport said that the schedule for revised flights and cancelled flights come from Delhi.
“We are not the ones who decide on cancellation or any revision. All these directions come from Delhi and we accordingly pass on the information,” he said.
The passengers said that the untimely cancellation of morning flights is creating issues for them. They appealed the concerned authorities to look into the issue.