IndiGo Istanbul delays: Now, Friday Delhi flight also late; embassy steps in to aid stuck flyers | India News – Times of India

Passengers stuck at airport (Imagr credit: X @koushikbhuma)

NEW DELHI: The Consulate General of India, Istanbul, has stepped in to aid passengers who have been left stranded at the airport there due to delays there in IndiGo flights to Delhi and Mumbai. The airline’s flights on December 11 to both Delhi and Mumbai were delayed by almost two days. Then Istanbul-Delhi of December 13 was also delayed, adding to the number of flyers stranded there.
“Regarding the delays at Istanbul Airport: The Consulate was in touch with the airlines regularly and responding to all calls from passengers. The flights were delayed due to a technical issue related to safety. The passengers were provided lounge, stay, and food. The flights had finally departed Istanbul after the necessary checks… delays in flight schedule started from Dec 11 due to technical issues related to safety, and still persists. The Consulate is responding to all the calls of passengers under any distress. Our lines continue to be open.”
Passengers are waiting at Istanbul airport for IndiGo to make some arrangement to fly them home. “The flight to Delhi from Istanbul has not departed. We are still at the airport,” said Aryan Rajput on X from his handle @Aryanrajput278.
In case of flight delays, diversions or cancellations, passengers often get stuck at airports abroad and are unable to go to nearby hotels if their nationality does not entitle them to being granted a visa to leave the airport. Turkey had abolished visa on arrival for eligible Indian travellers in April 2014. All Indian passport holders need to have an electronic visa (e-visa) or a sticker visa issued by a Turkish diplomatic or consular mission abroad in order to be able to enter into Turkey. Which means that a significant number of IndiGo passengers stuck at Istanbul airport were not able to leave the place.
“IndiGo flight 6E 12, operating from Istanbul to Delhi, was cancelled due to a technical issue. Alternative aircraft have been arranged to transport passengers to their destination. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate their understanding in this matter,” IndiGo said in a statement regarding the latest delay.
Passengers have taken to social media to highlight their plight. “Shame on indigo flight, from past 35 hours there are more than 500 people waiting for flight in Istanbul airport, but still they are not able to board us even after paying lakhs to travel. They are not even providing accommodation and food. And also crew is shouting at us, as well as threatened us by calling police and police threatened us saying ‘they will arrest us all’. This is why we booked IndiGo? After what happened from past two days at Istanbul Airport, no one’s gonna dare to travel again with IndiGo,” said a passenger from his handle @koushikbhuma.

Shubham Bansal wrote on LinkedIn: “I am one of the 400 passengers stranded in Istanbul since the last 24 hours. No response (or) updates from IndiGo. Is this how you run the airline?” Another stranded passenger, Anushri Bhansali, said on SM the flight was delayed twice by an hour, then cancelled and finally rescheduled 12 hours later. While complaining of exhaustion and a fever, she also said fliers were not given any accommodation, meal vouchers or even approached by an IndiGo representative at the airport.
In a statement Friday night, IndiGo said: “Due to technical issues, IndiGo flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Istanbul experienced delays. This led to cascading delays in the return sectors. All necessary steps were taken to ensure customers were apprised, and they were provided with refreshments and accommodation, where possible. We regret the inconvenience caused to customers and appreciate their understanding and patience.” It added, “All the operations are normalised now.”
The chilly weather in Istanbul has added to passenger woes. Rohan Raja people were struggling as IndiGo did not provide transport to the accommodations they were allegedly provided.
Parshwa Mehta was to travel to Mumbai at 8.15 pm on Wednesday. That flight was first delayed to 11 pm, then to 10 am Thursday. This information was given to passengers by Turkish Airlines crew and not indigo, she said. “We were told we’d get lounge access at Istanbul airport as compensation. But the lounge was far too small to accommodate the huge number of stranded passengers. Many of us were left standing for hours without proper facilities. No alternative flights were offered, no proper communication was made, and to top it all off-no plans for reparations were shared,” he said on X, while lashing out at IndiGo’s “blatant failure of basic customer service”, and saying it owed passengers an apology and fair compensation.
IndiGo had recently been ranked among the “world’s worst airlines” in the 2024 AirHelp Score report, securing 103rd place out of 109 with a score of 4.80. The low rating is attributed to underwhelming customer satisfaction and poor handling of flight disruption claims. Rejecting this report, IndiGo had criticised the methodology, saying the survey does not disclose the sample size from India, “casting doubt on the survey’s credibility.”