Chaos at Istanbul Airport: Over 400 IndiGo flyers stranded in Turkey for over 24 hours without food, lodging

As many as 400 IndiGo passengers en route to Mumbai and New Delhi were allegedly stuck at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey for more than 24 hours without any food or accommodation. When the airline announced that the aircraft was delayed for operational reasons, irate customers took to social media to vent their frustration.

The airline expressed regret for the "inconvenience caused to the customers" in a press release. "We are aware of the delays on the IndiGo flight connections to Istanbul. We accord the highest priority towards customer convenience and out teams are available at all contact points to assist customers. IndiGo apologises for the inconvenience caused to the customers," the airline said.

Passengers took to social media platform X and LinkedIn to claim that the flight was first delayed and then cancelled without notice. 

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Parshwa Mehta took to X to claim that the passengers were not given enough lodging, substitute flights, any correspondence from IndiGo, or even compensation. Mehta said that although several passengers appeared to be stuck in Istanbul, no IndiGo representative was at the gate to explain the hectic situation. The Turkish Airlines staff was the only ones who informed them. Additionally, travellers were granted access to a lounge that was much too tiny to hold everyone.

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Flights to Delhi were allegedly delayed by around 20 hours. Anushri Bhansali said her flight to India was delayed twice by an hour, then cancelled with no notice and rescheduled 12 hours later.

Other passengers also took their frustration out online at the airline, calling out the airline for its poor handling of the situation by not explaining the situation or sending a single representative at the Istanbul Airport.

Earlier this month, the AirHelp Score report 2024 placed IndiGo among the world's worst airlines, ranking it 103rd among the 109 analysed. The report also ranked Air India at 61st and AirAsia at 94th.

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