Indigo caught in the middle of chaos: Woman carrying father’s ashes, tourists, pilgrims, families in disarray. india news

Last updated:05 December, 2025, 16:00 IST

Even though officials are trying to resolve the IndiGo crisis, passengers are struggling with lack of clarity, refunds, stress and uncooperative staff. An X user described his 15 hours of fear

A woman from Bengaluru wants to bid a dignified farewell to her father A group of 25 pilgrims, including elders, children and women, who wanted to return to Silchar from Jeddah, who are returning from Sabarimala – are among the travelers stranded at airports across the country. chaos in indigo,

While authorities are trying to resolve the crisis with temporary relief amid thousands of flights being canceled and widespread delays, passengers are grappling with severe stress, uncooperative staff and lack of clarity.

For example, Namita, stranded at Kempegowda International Airport on her way to Haridwar for her father’s ‘ashti visarjan’, told ANI, “I have my father’s ‘asthi’ (mortal remains after cremation). I have to reach Delhi from Bengaluru. Take a flight from Delhi to Dehradun to reach Haridwar. The ‘ashti visarjan’ is to be done tomorrow. The flight is without any prior The information has been cancelled. Now they are saying that they have no flights for today. We are being asked to book flights with other airlines.”

Read this also indigo flight cancellation live updates Here

rising ticket prices In other airlines, disruption to her onward travel plans and refund from the airport amid the grief of her parents’ demise is one of her concerns. “Flight tickets for other flights cost Rs 60,000 per person, which I cannot afford… We are not able to reach Haridwar. All our money has been wasted. Partial refund will be given after a week. We do not know how much money will be deducted. I request the government to make some arrangements for me to reach Haridwar as it is very important to immerse my father’s ashes in Ganga ji…”

A group of youth stranded at Trivandrum airport and a family waiting for a flight to Raipur are worried about how they will be able to report to the office on time.

A woman at Goa airport expressed frustration over the delay. He said, “We were not informed that they are canceling the flight… We have been awake since 5 am and waiting here for 2 hours. There is no information and we have been standing in the queue for hours. They are now saying that they will not even give accommodation and we will get the flight only tomorrow. We have to attend a wedding. This is a complete mess… We are really disappointed with IndiGo.”

Another explained how there is a shortage Communications It was painful. “We have been told that our flight to Raipur has been cancelled. They are offering us exchange so that we can take tomorrow’s flight, but it is not confirmed whether that flight will depart or not. We will have to stay here for a day. They are asking us to speak to customer care…,” he said.

In Gujarat, Ali Haider explained in detail the plight of those returning from long international travels. “…Our flight was canceled yesterday, so we had to extend our stay in Jeddah by a day. Now that we have reached here, they are not letting us in… I hear that our connecting flight has been delayed once again. We have no idea about our food and accommodation… Our final destination is Silchar. IndiGo staff are not communicating with us… What will we do,” he asked, even as he highlighted that the elderly And her group of 25 people, including women, was struggling with basic facilities like toilets. A wheelchair or food.

‘Scary 15 hours’: X post on ‘real reason’ for making passengers wait goes viral

A user with the handle @AccidentalMallu gave an hour-by-hour account of the horror his family endured in the last 15 hours.

“9:00 pm (December 4): We enter Pune airport for our 3:45 pm flight (to Chennai), which is delayed till 10:50 pm. 9:15 pm: We double-check with the ground staff if it will actually take off at 10:50 pm, only then we will check our luggage. They say- yes, it will. And we made the mistake of trusting them. We checked our luggage 9:40: We are a kind CISF officer. People are waiting for more than 24 hours in front of their flight. Do you know why the IndiGo management is deliberately not canceling the flights, so that when they finally get out 24/36 hours late, they can mark the people as ‘no-show’. 10:30 PM – We start inquiring about how to cancel our tickets and get our luggage. 10:45: We start running around trying to figure out the process. 11:30 PM – We finally get in line to cancel our tickets. 12:30 AM- Still waiting for our turn to cancel. Surprisingly not throwing punches- I wouldn’t judge. 1:30 AM- We get a cancellation only. Confirmed even till now. Just a random phone number. We still don’t know if the refund will come till 1:35 pm – we contact the ground staff to get our luggage back.

Narrating another scene of horror, the post reads: “1:44am – waiting for our luggage, 2:30am – still waiting, 2:45am, 3:15am, 3:45am still waiting, finally, at 4:00am, after 20-30 continuous inquiries in 2.5 hours we got our luggage. The thing is, my flight still shows up as delayed – still not officially cancelled.”

The user advised anyone traveling in IndiGo: “1. Don’t make the mistake of checking your luggage. 2. They want you to check in so you show up as a no-show and they don’t have to refund your money. 3. Don’t believe anything the ground staff says – they’re just as clueless as you. 4. And don’t wait for official cancellation, it’s not going to happen.”

What is the reason for the disorder in Indigo?

IndiGo has been mired in chaos for the past four days, with 700 flights canceled on Friday alone – the highest number of cancellations in a single day in the carrier’s 20-year history. Travelers at major hubs including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai have reported long queues, missing luggage, limited assistance and widespread confusion.

IndiGo admitted that it misjudged the crew requirements under the recently revised tariff norms, resulting in severe shortage at a time when winter season and airport congestion were already putting pressure on operations. Despite the corrective measures, the airline has warned that more cancellations are expected in the next two to three days as it attempts to stabilize schedules.

IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers has told employees that restoring normal operations and the airline’s typical punctuality will be no “easy goal”.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday relaxed a key crew-duty requirement as IndiGo’s operational crisis continues to disrupt air travel across the country, leading to thousands of flights being canceled and widespread delays. In an official order, the regulator said it was temporarily withdrawing the rule that prevented airlines from replacing weekly rest with accrued leave, a restriction that had complicated crew rostering during the current crisis.

Indigo has requested Partial relaxation in the new flight duty time limit (FDTL) norms has been given to stabilize operations, given that full implementation is expected only by February 2026.

Amid the chaos, IndiGo on Thursday evening apologized to passengers and industry stakeholders affected by the widespread disruption in its network and operations. “Our teams, in close coordination with MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI and airport operators, are working tirelessly to minimize the cascading impact of these delays and restore normal operations. We continue to keep passengers updated about any changes to their scheduled flights and strongly advise them to check flight status before heading to the airport,” the airline posted on X.

With ANI, PTI inputs

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