IndiGo flight chaos: Extra passenger leads to hour delay
The incident took place on board an IndiGo Airlines plane. The aircraft was ready for takeoff and was already taxiing on the airport runway when the crew discovered something was amiss: too many passengers were on the plane.
7:39 AM EDT, May 23, 2024
The IndiGo Airlines plane was supposed to fly from Mumbai Airport to Varanasi in India, but just before takeoff, the crew discovered a passenger standing at the back of the plane. The pilot was immediately notified and turned the aircraft back towards the airport terminal.
Extra passenger a result of system error
- The flight returned to the bay, and the passenger was offloaded. The airline then checked the cabin baggage of all passengers on board before proceeding with the take-off after a delay of at least an hour, said a passenger of the aircraft, Akhilesh Chaubey, as quoted by the Hindustan Times portal.
The cause of the situation was overbooking, where there were more passengers than available seats on the plane. Travelers without a seat are usually rebooked onto another flight. This time, however, there was an error in the reservation system.
- There was an error during the passenger boarding process of 6E 6543 from Mumbai to Varanasi, wherein a standby passenger was allotted a seat reserved for a confirmed passenger. The error was noticed prior to the departure of the aircraft, and the standby passenger was de-boarded. This led to a slight delay in the departure of the aircraft. IndiGo will take all measures to strengthen its operational processes and regrets the inconvenience caused to customers – explained the spokesperson for IndiGo Airlines.
The extra passenger was an airline employee
It turned out that the extra passenger was an IndiGo Airlines employee who was supposed to take the flight as part of recreational staff travel. The crew member checked in after receiving information that there was an available seat on that flight.
