A New Delhi-bound United Airlines (UA) flight from Newark in the USA was diverted to Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport due to bad weather on early Tuesday, stranding around 300 passengers for nearly 24 hours.
According to airport officials, United Airlines Flight 82 departed from Newark Liberty International Airport in the United States at 10 p.m. on Sunday and was scheduled to arrive at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport by 11 p.m. on Monday.
Due to bad weather, the flight was diverted to SVPI Airport around 1 a.m., and around 300 passengers were deplaned around 4 a.m.
The airport officials informed that UA has tied up with Air India to facilitate the services for passengers at airports in India.
Several passengers took to Twitter to express their grievances and one of them with Twitter id @kookanis wrote, “UA 82 Flight diverted to Ahmedabad last night, and passengers deplaned at 4 am. It’s been four hours and the bags have still not arrived. Air India ground staff responsible for managing on behalf of UA is nowhere to be seen. Folks have been reduced to crying, without food and water for the past eight hours. Many passengers have missed their rebooted connections and are now left fending for themselves without a semblance of support or response from either UA or AI (sic).”
A new flight has been scheduled for IGI Airport at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, according to an SVPI Airport official. The passengers have been held at the airport’s international terminal. While UA officials could not be reached, the flight’s status was listed on their website as “diverted due to severe weather conditions.”