Bengaluru family, including 2 seniors, stranded in ‘continuously jerking’ airport lift for 15 minutes

A Bengaluru family, including two senior citizens, had a “terrible experience” at the city’s Kempegowda International Airport after getting stuck in an airport lift for nearly 15 minutes. Family member Macqueline Fernandez took to the social media platform X to complain about the incident, saying the lift was “jerking” continuously while she and her parents were stranded inside.

Fernandez told HT.com that she and her parents had gone to Bengaluru airport's Terminal 2 this afternoon to drop off her sister, who had an international flight. However, a power outage caused their lift to stop moving suddenly.

BIAL sources mentioned ‘We experienced a brief electrical fluctuation from the grid, which temporarily affected the lift's operation in T2 for approximately 10 minutes.’

Scary experience at Bengaluru airport

It was a “scary” experience, Fernandez told HT.com, especially as the lift was shaking dangerously. To make matters worse, there was no phone inside the lift, and the emergency numbers provided proved to be of no help. According to her, the first number for the “Duty Manager” was unreachable.

They tried the second number provided inside the lift - that of the Terminal Manager who answered after several tries and took a casual approach to their urgent complaint. “We are looking into it, there’s been a power outage” he told the family.

He failed to answer how long it would take the lift to start working again. Meanwhile, Fernandez and her family had to endure the constant jerks.

“They [her parents] tried to really stay calm, but I was scared myself.. and to have the anxious worry of when will someone even show up, and no telephone in the lift…” she said.

Lack of answers

The lift finally started moving after 15 minutes. However, when the Bengaluru family stepped out, they were greeted with a complete lack of empathy. This, Fernandez says, upset her perhaps more than the malfunctioning lift.

“We got out and saw two technicians and two security guards outside. They were just standing there, no empathy. Nothing,” she said, adding that the guards and the technicians did not even ask how the family was doing.

Fernandez received a call apologising for the ordeal this afternoon, after she had already left the airport.