Woman couldn't meet husband before death due to Air India Express flight cancellations: Report
Amrita booked tickets for May 8 to visit her husband in Muscat. However, upon arriving at the airport, she was informed about the flight cancellation
The family of a woman said she couldn't bid farewell to her husband, who was in an ICU in Oman, before he passed away because her Air India Express flight was cancelled last week.
Amrita booked tickets for May 8 to visit her husband in Muscat. However, upon arriving at the airport, she was informed about the flight cancellation, ANI reported.
She protested at the airport and got a ticket for the next day on a different Air India Express flight. However, that flight also got cancelled, so she had to cancel her travel plans.
On Monday, she received the news of her husband's death.
Speaking to the media, Amrita's mother said, “It was so unfair that she could not see him for one last time. We begged the airline to accommodate us on some other flight so that we could see him for one last time. But they did not do anything.”
She added that Amrita's husband wanted to see her and their kids, hence the family booked tickets to visit him. Later, Amrita too spoke to reporters and said that after the second flight was cancelled, the airline couldn't help her anymore.
“They said their flights for the next four days were full and they cannot do anything,” she said.
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Amrita informed that her husband was hospitalised after a heart attack. “I spoke to him over the phone. Told him I will try to reach there if I can,” she said.
Last week, Air India Express had to cancel many flights because of a shortage of cabin crew members. Some crew members called in sick to protest against what they saw as mismanagement at the airline, which is now owned by the Tata Group. This has been happening for over a month, especially since the airline started merging with AIX Connect, previously known as AirAsia India.
On May 10, some of the cabin crew who were on strike decided to end their protest. The airline also cancelled the termination letters they had sent to 25 of the crew members.
Between May 8 and May 10, Air India Express had to cancel more than 260 flights because they didn't have enough cabin crew available, a source from the airline told ANI.
On May 12, the airline said that it was gradually getting its flights back on track making its network stable. The airline expected full normalcy to return by Tuesday.
