After Go First Plane Takes Off Without Passengers, Airline Grounds Staff

Go First Airline, under the scanner of civil aviation regulator DGCA, has said it would offer a free ticket to each of the 55 passengers it forgot to board on a Bengaluru-Delhi flight. The flight on Monday morning had taken off, leaving behind the passengers in a shuttle coach on the tarmac.

Calling the error "inadvertent", the airline said in a statement: "We deeply appreciate and value your patience for bearing with us. In line with our philosophy of customer centricity, the airline has decided to offer all affected passengers one free ticket for travel on any domestic sector in the next 12 months".

The airline's move came as passengers tweeted their "horrifying" experience. Many declared that they were not taking a Go First flight again.

Tagging the DGCA, one passenger, Shreya Sinha, tweeted:

The airline said it is conducting an inquiry and meanwhile, has derostered the staff involved. It also said it had accommodated the passengers on alternate airlines to Delhi and onward to other destinations.

The DGCA has called for an explanation and issued a showcause notice.

In its notice, the regulator said the airline has violated a set of rules under which it is responsible for ensuring "adequate arrangement for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch and passenger/cargo handling and also ensure that all the ground handling staff engaged in passenger handling undergo periodic soft skill training for sensitization, courtesy, behaviour and procedures for assisting the passengers.

Over the last few months domestic airlines have made headlines – initially over multiple mechanical faults and then mishandling of passengers. Two Air India flights are under scrutiny over incidents involving drunk passengers.

The crew of a New York-Delhi flight were de-rostered after a drunk passenger urinated on an elderly woman. In another Air India Paris-Delhi flight, a drunk passenger had urinated on the vacant seat and blanket of a woman passenger. Another passenger, also inebriated, was caught smoking in the lavatory and refusing to respond to the instructions of the cabin crew.