Pune's airport descended into chaos over the weekend as a major operational crisis at IndiGo led to the cancellation of dozens of flights and a distressing loss of passenger baggage. The situation stretched the patience of hundreds of travelers to its absolute limit, with many left clueless about the whereabouts of their checked-in luggage for days.
A Weekend of Travel Disarray
The disruption began on Saturday, December 2, and spilled into Sunday. Between midnight and 5 am on Saturday alone, a staggering 42 IndiGo flights were cancelled. Of these, 28 were departing flights. While airport authorities claimed the situation was slowly returning to normal, the airline preemptively announced the cancellation of 50 more flights for Sunday, December 3, indicating deep-seated issues.
The most critical fallout of this crisis was the widespread misplacement of checked-in baggage. Hundreds of stranded passengers found themselves in a nightmarish scenario where their flights were cancelled, but their luggage had already been processed and vanished into the system. Desperate attempts to contact customer care or track bags proved futile for many.
Personal Tales of Traveler Anguish
The human cost of this operational failure is stark, as illustrated by several affected passengers. Medhaa Nadgir, who flew from Boston to Pune to visit a relative, was scheduled to attend a wedding in Bengaluru on December 4. Her direct flight was cancelled, and so was a subsequent connecting flight via Goa. Despite checking in, her baggage was not returned to her.
"The airline doesn't know where my bags are," Nadgir told TOI. "I have been staying in a hotel in Vimannagar for the past two days. I bought some essential clothes via quick commerce applications." She visited the airport multiple times and even emailed officials at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, but to no avail.
Krishna Vamshi from Hyderabad took to social media to alert others after his bag, containing important documents, went missing during a Hyderabad to Bengaluru via Coimbatore flight on December 2. "It has been four days since IndiGo misplaced our bag during the check-in process," he wrote. "They said they would deliver it to our location, but they still haven't." He attended his company's outreach program in the same clothes for two days.
Arun Juyal, a resident of Nigdi, had to travel from Hyderabad to Pune by road on Thursday after his flight was cancelled following a six-hour delay. His checked-in bag remains missing. "The airline's officials couldn't trace my bag despite waiting at the Hyderabad airport for three hours," he said. Promises of home delivery by Friday were broken, and customer care lines were unreachable.
Systemic Failure and Passenger Outcry
Frustrated passengers accused the airline of gross mismanagement. One flyer, waiting for his luggage since Friday, alleged, "The airline knew that its flights would get cancelled. Still its officials accepted check-in baggage for almost all flights... It is clear that the airline was in no mood to refund fares. Hence, all check-ins were allowed. Later the problem intensified and things went out of its officials' control."
In response to the growing crisis, Pune airport authorities floated a helpline number (020-26685201) on Friday. However, for many like Arun Juyal, calling this number did not yield any resolution.
Amidst this turmoil, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol announced on Saturday that the ministry plans to impose a cap on airfares. He stated that this measure is intended to prevent airlines from arbitrarily increasing prices during emergencies, festive periods, and holidays, thereby easing the financial burden on passengers. The cap would apply to distances ranging from 500km to 1,500km and beyond.
