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Jan 2007

Stranded for 36 hours, air passengers at Vizag get no help

     Vishakapatanam: For the air passengers stranded at the airport here for the past 36 hours, the nightmare has not ended as they have to consistently face ill mannered officials. Due to bad weather and fog, all flights to and from Vishakhapatnam were cancelled, and some of the passengers have been waiting in the airport lounge for the past 36 hours. These passengers are now complaining that the airlines company made no effort to provide them with basic necessities and in return they had to endure bad behaviour from the officials. "All the flights have been delayed but all this is expected to improve soon. However what is the worst is the behaviour of airline officials, " complained Y. Laxmiprasad, former Member of Rajya Sabha. Lack of service facilities at the airport led to many of the passengers arguing with the airline employees. On Thursday, the city experienced heavy downpour. As a result all the nine flights were cancelled putting many passengers into inconvenience. The worst affected were the foreign passengers who had to board flights to Chennai, Hyderabad or Delhi and onward to their native countries. They had no arrangements of any stay at any hotel. "I wish Indian Airlines improves a bit. Nobody announces anything, nobody says what is the delay due to" says David, a tourist from Scotland. In the recent past, delayed and cancelled flights by private airline operators have become a regular feature.
-Jan 19, 2007