15-hour flight delay creates confusion, GoFirst flyers walk to aircraft without guidance

A woman who got her and her 4-year-old son’s seats shuffled despite having paid extra for consecutive seats says she felt as if she were searching for a bus at a bus stand.

The flight scheduled at 8.30am was rescheduled to 8:30pm and further to 11.25pm, a delay of nearly 15 hours. (File)

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During what was supposed to be a simple two-hour journey between Pune and Bengaluru, flyers on a GoFirst flight on April 2 had a harrowing experience. The flight scheduled at 8.30am was rescheduled to 8:30 pm and further to 11:25 pm, a delay of nearly 15 hours. The flyers were forced to walk to the aircraft from the boarding gate in the midst of fuel tanks, luggage wagons and other vehicles as no one cared to guide them.

Prajakta Gothkhindikar, who runs a cafe in Bengaluru, took to Twitter to criticise the airline for the inconvenience caused by the poor management of the situation. Gothkhindikar said that she and her four-year-old son had booked tickets and paid extra for two consecutive seats on the fourth row. However, following the rescheduling of the flight, the airline provided them seats in different rows—the fourth and 25th row. “Despite paying extra for two consecutive seats on the fourth row we were given two separate rows. The seats got shuffled due to rescheduling. How can I leave my child alone in a different row, especially during night journeys?” she said.

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Gothkhindikar also alleged that the airline poorly guided the flyers to the boarding gate. “There was no update on the screen if the flight was on time or delayed. After multiple follow-ups, we got an announcement to run towards the fifth gate from the ninth gate,” she said.

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The flyers had to walk till the aircraft, with no crew member to guide them. “We had to walk till flight by following the front passengers (as there was no one to guide, ground staff of other airlines were pointing towards the flight) by giving way to fuel tanks and luggage wagons while looking for our flight,” she narrated on Twitter. “We got a feel for searching for our bus at the bus stand. Finally, we got a seat on the 29th row, despite paying extra for the front row.”

Some flyers picked up arguments with GoFirst’s crew members near the boarding gate in Pune and called out their “unprofessional behaviour”.

Meanwhile, GoFirst responded to flyers’ complaints on Twitter and cited “operational reasons” for the rescheduling of the flight. Responding to Gothkhindikar’s complaint, the airline said, “It is never our intention to make our guests feel unhappy with our service. We have shared your feedback with the concerned team for review, and they’ll surely look into this.”

Several Twitter users had earlier flagged mismanagement on GoFirst’s part, some even mocking the low-cost airline as “GoLast”, following repeated complaints of rescheduling and delays.

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