Passengers furious at Qantas diversion delay in Delhi

A report in The Australian says that angry Qantas passengers were last night awaiting the arrival in New Delhi of a replacement plane from Australia almost 36 hours after their Singapore-London flight was forced to make an unscheduled stop in the sweltering Indian capital.

The replacement aircraft was last night due to pick up all but about 20 of the 354 passengers on Flight QF9, with the 20 passengers booked on alternative flights while the others were moved into five-star hotels.

But some passengers complained of a “nightmare experience” when the Qantas flight made its unscheduled landing and they were told to remain on board for six hours.

“We have still not been able to get our baggage, so being in the same clothes for over two days in the Indian heat is becoming uncomfortable,” one passenger told News.com.au yesterday.

The passenger also expressed disappointment about the “lack of communication” from Qantas ground staff, saying information was not forthcoming even after repeated calls to the airline in Britain, Australia and India.

Qantas yesterday blamed Indian authorities for keeping the passengers so long on the plane. The airline said the diversion was prompted by a vibration in the plane’s No2 engine and did not involve an emergency landing or any safety issues.

The aircraft diverted to the nearest airport after the pilots picked up the vibration on Saturday about six hours after leaving Singapore.

“After landing, passengers were held in the aircraft by Indian authorities for six hours, while visa and security issues were resolved,” Qantas executive general manager engineering David Cox said.

“Refreshments and video and audio entertainment were provided.”  “Once passengers had been cleared by authorities, overnight accommodation was provided in Delhi.”

New Delhi’s international airport is notoriously bad in terms of passenger comfort and the problem has been compounded by a massive building refurbishment.

Passengers are often forced to wait in sweltering conditions for hours to get through customs and immigration and to collect their baggage.

Airport officials insisted last night that the delay to the Qantas passengers was “nothing unusual”.

Consular officials at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi said they were aware of the situation but had received no calls for help from any of the Australian passengers.

Airport officials also noted that Qantas has no ground staff in the Indian capital since its India-Australia flights operate out of Mumbai.

“I think everyone, as happens on these occasions, did their very best to help, but given that there are no Qantas ground staff based in New Delhi and the Indira Gandhi International airport is in a state of chaos, I think it is unreasonable of people to complain too much,” one Indian airport official said last night.

“The concern was to ensure the safety of the passengers and that was achieved.”

Yesterday, one of India’s leading newspapers, the Hindustan Times, led its front page with a story about “madness” at the airport, people queueing for an hour to get in and travellers missing flights.

In a general expose of the chaos at the airport, the newspaper said that for most travellers “air rage begins on the ground”.

A Report by The Mole from The Australian