Kolkata: Several passengers faced inconvenience as flight operations were suspended at the Kolkata airport for 21 hours in the wake of cyclone 'Remal'.
Passengers complained that the airlines did not inform them about the cancellation of their flights through email or registered phone number. Some of them demanded hotel costs and food allowance from the airline.
Arnab Tarafdar, one of the relatives of the passenger, who had come to the airport to drop off her grandmother, Meera Nandi complained that her grandmother, who is an aged woman, was asked to wait and then informed about the cancellation of her flight.
"My grandmother (Meera Nandi) was asked to wait. After some time she was called to the counter and said that the flight was overbooked and she would not get a seat. She was asked to come tomorrow because all flights later in the day have been cancelled owing to the cyclone. She is an aged woman. Now she has to go back and come again tomorrow," Arnab Tarafdar said.
Another passenger, Avinash Talukdar said that he had checked out of his hotel at 5 am and came to the airport only to know that his flight had been cancelled.
Talukdar demanded hotel costs and food allowance from his airline and is also exploring legal ways to make such demands.
"We had a flight to Guwahati at 8:30 am. They said the flight had been cancelled owing to the cyclone. They did not drop a text or call us. I have checked out from my hotel at 5 am and I have come here. They should have informed us through email or message. They said that the next flight is on May 28. Where shall we roam in these two days? Our flight has been rescheduled for May 28 without even asking us. They just asked us to get out of the airport. We want hotel costs and allowance for food. We are searching on the web whether we can take demand such costs legally." Talukdar said.
Another passenger, Himadri Das whose flight was also cancelled said, "We had come here from Guwahati for medical reasons. We have an important work at Guwahati for which we were supposed to leave today. But we were not allowed to fly owing the the cyclone. We did not receive any information about this. Our flight was at 8:30 and we came here at 6. We did not receive any mail, or any message at our registered number."
"This was not expected from Indigo. We have travelled by Indigo several times and it has always been a good experience. We do not have any accommodation here. They rescheduled it themselves, that too on May 28. We will see what can be done lawfully," she added.
According to the Kolkata Airport Authority, a total of 394 flights that were scheduled for arrival or departure including domestic and international have been suspended from Sunday noon to Monday 9 am. This includes 170 domestic tentative departures and 26 international tentative arrivals, officials said.
Cyclone Remal is forecasted to significantly impact the coastal region of West Bengal, including the city of Kolkata. (ANI)
