Passengers flying from Mumbai to Dubai on Air India were stuck in a nightmare of five hours when a combination of delays and technical issues caused them to sweat it out without air conditioning. The flight was originally scheduled to depart at 8:25 AM and got delayed for 5 hours. This leaves passengers including children and senior citizens struggling in stifling conditions.

In a post on Instagram, Tejasvi Anandkumar Soni, a passenger on the flight, shared a video documenting the chaos, calling it a “horrible experience” for everyone on board.

Suffocating Conditions and Lack of Action

Tejasvi explained how the air conditioning system in the flight had stopped working, making the passengers feel suffocated. “What a horrible experience for all the passengers flying with @airindia to dubai on flight AI909. The flight that was supposed to take off at 8:25 AM was delayed for 5 hours with passengers (including toddlers and senior citizens) on board without the air condition system working.,” Tejasvi wrote.

As can be seen in the video, passengers became restless and started demanding that the doors be opened. One passenger is heard saying, “We don’t trust you. Please open the door. We don’t want to put our life at stake.” Passengers were banging on the overhead bins in frustration.

Lack of Communication and Crew Response of Air India

However, the flight crew did not provide on-spot alleviation. The captain locked himself in the cockpit and didn’t want to come out and address the passengers. Tejasvi stated, “The captain not once came out of the cockpit to address the passengers to assuage the situation but only waited inside until passengers lost their calm after 5 hours of waiting patiently.”

Later, the passengers deboarded very chaotically with even long queues exacerbating the problems.

The video, however, immediately went viral and social media users who have the same kind of experience as theirs criticized Air India. Most are frustrated at the way the airlines handled the incident, asking for better communication and good customer service. To date, Air India still has not reacted to the viral video.