A group of passengers from Birmingham were left stranded at Birmingham airport for nearly 48 hours. They were due to fly to India on Friday night but discovered their flight had been indefinitely delayed due to a technical fault -and then eventually cancelled.
They said they had spent two nights in local hotels waiting for an Air India flight bound for Amritsar via Delhi.The delay resulted into some people missing a family wedding, while another being unable to attend a family funeral.
A local newspaper reported that Sunny Rai, a 26-year-old trainee financial advisor from Smethwick, his mother Charanjit Kaur, 50, and 54-year-old father Balkar Singh, were looking forward to attending a cousin’s wedding. Instead the tired family, who had nine suitcases and paid £480 each for their tickets, were at the airport, still trying to get on a flight on Sunday 8 February.
Speaking on behalf of Air India, Vishwanath Panyam apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
He said around 233 passengers had been affected, with 42 still yet to fly on Sunday evening.
Some were sent via Heathrow and others boarded a flight from Birmingham on Saturday. The rest were due to fly on Sunday night, although that service was delayed until 2am.
Mr Panyam added: "There was a technical glitch because of which the flight got grounded."
He further added: "Unfortunately the challenge was we didn't have any seats on alternate carriers, all other flights were full.
"So as and when we were given seats on alternate services, we were flying them out.
"I can say that we are really sorry and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, but this was an unfortunate situation.
"Because of the technical difficulty, safety is of paramount importance and we cannot take any chances with safety.
"We are trying our best to provide the best customer service possible in trying circumstances."
Kam Singh, aged 32, from Coventry, reportedly said that his parents had also been travelling to attend a wedding and had been left stranded.
