Mumbai-San Francisco Air India flight delayed by 18 hours. What happened?
The San Franscisco-bound Air India flight is now set to depart at 10:30 am on Saturday.
A Mumbai to San Francisco Air India flight was on Friday delayed by around 18 hours after it suffered a technical glitch and a passenger fell ill. The flight, AI-179, was scheduled to take off from the Mumbai International Airport at 4pm but was initially delayed by over three hours when the crew noticed a “technical glitch”.
The flight was then pushed back to 7:17pm, however, it was further delayed when a passenger fell ill, and subsequently, some other passengers also deboarded the plane.
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According to a statement by an Air India spokesperson, the flight was then halted due to the night landing restrictions at the San Francisco airport and the crew flight duty limitations.
“AI-179 from Mumbai to San Francisco, scheduled to depart at 1600 hrs today, was delayed due to a technical issue arising just before departure. Giving top priority to safety issues, the aircraft was held back for engineering checks…Meanwhile, a few guests decided to discontinue the journey and the flight got further delayed as their baggage had to be offloaded from the aircraft," the Air India's statement read.
It added, “The flight pushed back at 1917 hours but had to ramp return due to one guest feeling unwell. While the ailing guest was being deboarded with his baggage, the night landing restrictions at SFO had set in along with the crew flight duty limitations.”
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The San Franscisco-bound Air India flight will depart at 10:30am on Saturday.
The company offered passengers hotel accommodation, complimentary rescheduling, and served refreshments at the airport.
“Guests have been offered hotel accommodation, complimentary rescheduling and full refunds and served refreshments at the airport. Inconvenience caused to guests is sincerely regretted,” it said.
Meanwhile, according to reports, the passengers were stuck in the flight's cabin for around five to six hours on Friday - before the authorities deboarded them.
Several angry passengers also took to social media to describe their horrific experience.
“Penning down the worst experience i have ever had with Air India. I had a flight, AI 179, scheduled on the 24th of May, 2024 from Mumbai to San Francisco. The flight was a total nuisance. The service post de-planing was also super chaotic…The flight had no air conditioning and we were stuck inside for good 5 hours. The in-flight service from the crew members was disappointing. 3 people passed out due to suffocation. Everyone eventually had to de-board. The pick up and drop service to the hotel was so tiring,” a passenger wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another wrote, “What is happening in flight no AI179( Mumbai to San Francisco) , the AC is not working, the flight was supposed to start at 4:00pm and now it’s 7:09pm. There are old age people…Why the aircraft was not checked before?”