Several IndiGo Flyers Stranded In Istanbul With No Food, Stay; Many Vent On Social Media
As many as 400 IndiGo passengers en route to Mumbai and New Delhi were allegedly stuck at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey for more than 12 hours without any food or accommodation. Furious passengers vented their anger on social media platforms as the airline said the flight was delayed due to operational reasons.
Taking to X, Parshwa Mehta said the passengers were not provided with proper accommodation facilities, alternative flights, any communication from IndiGo or even reparations. “This delay isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a blatant failure of basic customer service. Where is the accountability? Where is the empathy for the passengers stranded overnight at the airport?” he said.
Mehta also said no person from IndiGo was present at the gate to explain the chaotic situation as several passengers were apparently stranded in Istanbul. They only received the information from the Turkish Airlines crew. Moreover, the passengers were given lounge access, which was far too small to accommodate all of them.
Flights to Delhi were allegedly delayed by around 20 hours. Anushri Bhansali said her flight to India was delayed twice by an hour, then cancelled with no notice and rescheduled 12 hours later. “There’s no Indigo rep at the airport, no accommodation or meal vouchers, and I’m sick with a fever now! My worried parents can’t even get in touch with indigo via call-no one picked, and over 400 passengers are stuck with no support,” she added.
Other passengers also took their frustration out online at the airline, calling out the airline for its poor handling of the situation by not explaining the situation or sending a single representative at the Istanbul Airport. “Worst flight and very irresponsible and unprofessional airline. I booked the flight from Edh to Delhi via istanbul . I have made stuck at the istanbul airport due to an indigo flight being overbooked,” wrote one user.
Some even alleged that Turkish Airlines were misbehaving with the stranded passengers, without any representative from IndiGo to help them.
Last week, IndiGo was ranked among the world’s worst airlines this year. The ‘AirHelp Score Report 2024’ placed the domestic carrier near the bottom at 103rd place out of 109 analysed. The report also ranked Air India at 61st and AirAsia at 94th.
In a statement, IndiGo said the data published in the survey does not report the sample size from India, and neither takes into account the methodology or compensation guidelines used by the global aviation industry – “casting a doubt on its credibility”. IndiGo said it has consistently scored high on punctuality and has the lowest customer complaint ratio for an airline of its size and scale of operations.
