Home, after 40 long hrs in the air

“We know why you fly, we’re American Airlines”. That’s what the airline’s slogan says. Passengers on board flight AA 292 from Chicago to Delhi want it to be changed.

FLIGHT NIGHTMARE: American Airlines flight that took off at 7.30 pm Chicago time on Saturday lands in Delhi at 11.45 pm on Monday; officials blame it on technical snag, bad weather

“We know why you fly, we’re American Airlines”. That’s what the airline’s slogan says. Passengers on board flight AA 292 from Chicago to Delhi want it to be changed. The flight that took off at 7.30 pm Chicago time (around 6 am on Sunday in India) on Saturday finally landed at the IGI Airport at 11.45 pm Indian Standard Time on Monday. Reason: crew members first forgot to load water in the flight and then came a series of hiccups.

Introduced in 2005, the scheduled flight time of the daily Chicago-Delhi flight is 14 hours and 45 minutes.

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The harassed passengers streaming out of the Delhi airport past midnight on Monday after an over 40-hour flight had only one thing to say: “Frustrating!”

“I am out (of the plane) finally. It was my most horrendous air trip ever,” said Moni Kumar, who was travelling with her two-year-old daughter.

American Airlines is the world’s largest airlines. “We had to cancel Sunday’s flight due to a technical snag. It was rescheduled for Monday. On Monday, it was delayed due to bad weather at Chicago. All passengers were either routed via London or given accommodation,” said Rohit Bhatia, airport manager of American Airlines.

According to the passengers, as soon as the flight took off from Chicago on October 4, the captain declared that there was shortage of grey water (one used for toilet) on board. It remained airborne for nearly three hours before returning to Chicago. Around 11 pm, the passengers were told to collect their luggage and were sent to a local hotel, in batches. Some reached the hotel as late as 3 am, they added. “The hotel was nearly 15 miles away. We waited at the airport for quite long for a drop. Many took a taxi,” said Gurmeet Kaur, a resident of Ohio. She has come to Delhi to celebrate Diwali.

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The passengers alleged that though they were given $5 coupon each for meals, many of them were not aware of the facility. “We were told that the flight would leave the next day at 2 pm. But once we reached the airport, we were told it had been further rescheduled for 7.30 pm,” said Ajay Kumar, who works on board a cruise ship in the US. On reaching Delhi, Kumar realised that most of his luggage was wet. “It was raining in Chicago. Maybe they just did not bother to pay attention to the baggage in the melee.”

At 7.30 pm, the passengers said, they were once again told to board the flight. Little did they know that they were in for more trouble. “The flight had taxied only for a few minutes when the captain declared that there was some technical snag in the engine. We again waited at the airport for three more hours,” said Shivani Kumar, a software engineer.

While the passengers spent their time in transit, their relatives and friends, too, had anxious time outside the IGI. The rescheduled flight was to land in Delhi at 8.30 pm on Monday but it finally touched ground at 11.45 pm. “We came yesterday too and waited for nearly two hours before we were told the flight had been cancelled. Today, we have been waiting for nearly four hours,” said Sharoon Singh, who had come from Faridabad to receive three Catholic pastors.

Dirty toilet: Minister pulls up DIAL officials
Dial protocol officers received a dressing down from Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Monday after he was greeted with a dirty toilet in the VIP lounge. The minister was on his way to Mumbai and during his brief halt at the lounge, he had a first-hand experience of the situation at the airport. “He rarely remains in the VIP lounge for more than a few minutes, so the officers had overlooked the cleanliness of the restroom,“ said a source.