Air India Express flyer removes shirt as flight’s ‘AC fails’; see airline’s response

In his viral post, Rout shared photographs showing passengers struggling, with one man sitting shirtless, while others tried to cool themselves by fanning with magazines and drinking water.

“Passengers are faced unbearably hot in this flying, one of the passenger health is very serious,” he wrote.

According to Rout, the flight took off from Delhi shortly before 4 pm on May 11. He claimed the AC failed in mid-air and the heat persisted for almost two hours, despite passengers raising multiple complaints. The discomfort allegedly continued until the end of the journey.

Click on the link to view the post.

In response to the LinkedIn post, Air India Express commented suggesting that the cooling system may not have malfunctioned. “We’re sorry for the delay and any discomfort you experienced during your flight, Tusharkant. The cabin AC may feel less effective during boarding and taxiing due to open doors and limited power supply for operational reasons, but it becomes fully functional after takeoff,” the airline responded.

“As you’ve completed your journey, we truly appreciate your feedback and remain committed to improving our services for a better experience next time,” it added.

Despite the airline’s clarification, the incident has sparked outrage, with many expressing concern over passenger safety and in-flight comfort. “Next time I suppose you won’t travel with Air India, Great one wicket down. Unfortunately, Nowadays Air India Express don’t care much about passengers comfort. Past serveral instances passengers faced the same issues,” a LinkedIn user wrote.

“Saw the above post about Air India Express flight IX-1128 and honestly, what frustrated me more than the issue itself was the airline’s reply,” another user commented.