Vistara flight cancellation: Vistara flight to Singapore cancelled after 6-hour delay: Passengers frustrated |

Pune: Over 100 passengers of Vistara’s Pune-Singapore flight (UK-111) were left stranded at the city’s airport for hours as it was rescheduled multiple times, and boarded a plane only to deboard when the airline cancelled the service on Monday morning, more than six hours after the scheduled departure time.
The ordeal of many passengers continued as they had to wait until almost 11am to get their refunds. Some passengers spent almost 13 hours at the airport premises because they had reported for their overseas flight well before the scheduled departure time.
The flight was scheduled to take off from the city at 2:10 am on Monday and land in Singapore at 8:10 am IST (Indian Standard Time).
The airline attributed the flight cancellation to a technical problem “Before take-off, a technical glitch was detected in the Vistara aircraft that was flying from Pune to Singapore on September 9. As the checks and resolution of the issue took longer than expected, our crew exceeded their flight time limit. This forced us to cancel the flight,” an airline spokesperson told TOI.
“We are making every effort to minimise the inconvenience to our customers, including providing refreshments, alternative flight options and refunds where applicable. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our customers. As always, the safety of our customers and crew is of utmost importance to Vistara,” the spokesperson said.
Prakash Jakune, from Baner, had booked a Vistara flight for a business trip to Singapore. He said many travellers arrived at the airport around 10 pm on Sunday.
“As per regulations, passengers travelling abroad have to report to the airport three to four hours in advance. Our problems started soon after we completed the check-in and security check formalities. First, the airline announced that the flight was slightly delayed and would take off at 2.40 am,” Jakune told TOI.
He said the flight was further delayed and the boarding time was changed from 3:15am to 3:35am and then to 4:30am. “The airline officials could not give proper answers to our questions. There was no sign of refreshment either. Finally, at around 5:30am, boarding began. About 40 minutes later, the plane was ready for takeoff,” Jakune said.
The plane stopped after taxiing to the runway. “We had no idea what was happening. The plane returned to the parking area around 6:40am but we were not allowed to disembark. All the passengers were very frustrated by then. Around 8am, refreshments were served. Then, the passengers were asked to disembark the plane. As we were getting off the plane, the airline announced that the flight had been cancelled,” Jakune said.
“The ticket refund process was very slow. I was finally able to leave the airport only at 11am, about 13 hours after I arrived at the airport,” Jakune said.