Passengers on IndiGo flight to Phuket stranded for hours

Passengers on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Phuket endured a travel nightmare yesterday, September 13, as their journey turned into a chaotic ordeal.

The flight was unexpectedly diverted to Penang International Airport in Malaysia due to bad weather, leaving travellers stranded for hours with clogged washrooms, no food or water, and stuck on the tarmac for over three hours.

Originally scheduled to land in Phuket at 10.30am (Malaysian Time), the flight was rerouted, touching down in Penang at around 11am. However, the drama didn’t end there—passengers were not allowed to disembark, according to an NDTV Profit team member on board. With no prior approvals to land at Penang, the airline struggled to manage the situation.

To make matters worse, the plane had run out of drinking water, leaving passengers parched, though the airline continued to sell food instead of providing it free of charge.

“It was bad enough being stranded, but to be forced to buy food when we had no water was outrageous.”

IndiGo confirmed the diversion:

“In response to adverse weather conditions in Phuket, the flight from Mumbai was diverted to Penang as a necessary precaution to ensure passenger safety.”

The airline added that they were working on securing permissions to continue the journey and had provided refreshments to ensure passenger comfort. The flight finally departed Penang at 2.55pm and landed in Phuket a short while later.

This isn’t the first time passengers have faced lengthy delays—an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Istanbul in April last year was similarly diverted, leaving passengers stranded for hours, reported NDTV Profit.

In related news, in a nightmare at 30,000 feet, passengers on a Heathrow to Bangkok flight endured panic attacks and struggled to breathe after their plane turned into a sweltering sauna for two hours. The Boeing 777, operated by Thai Airways (THAI), was set to depart on Thursday, July 25 but never left the ground due to a malfunctioning air conditioning system.