AI flyers stranded in Denmark for 2 days after ‘aircraft glitch’

Mumbai: About 250 Air India passengers who were to travel from Copenhagen to Delhi on June 30 have been stuck in Denmark for the past two days. The passengers alleged that they have no information on the flight status. The airline had cancelled the evening flight after the aircraft developed a technical problem.
The passengers, aged between 2 and 85 years, have been put up in hostel-like rooms in a Copenhagen hotel, said Ashok Mehta (64), one of the affected passengers.“It’s been two days, but there has been no information from Air India about our flight to Delhi,” he added.
After a 17-day Scandinavian group tour, Mehta along with two of his family members had reached the Copenhagen airport at 4pm to board the 8.45pm Air India flight to Delhi and then travel onwards to Mumbai.
At 11pm, the airlines announced the cancellation of AI-158 citing technical issues with the aircraft.
“After all the immigration formalities had been done, we had to wait for another 3 hours for the clearance to be cancelled. Senior citizens, pregnant women and parents with their children waited till the wee hours without food and water. The Danish authorities took our passports before letting us leave the airport premises,” he said. “The hotel was more like a hostel. The bigger problem though has been food. Air India gave us meal coupons to be redeemed at a mall closeby. But we’re Jains and there is nothing here that matches our food preferences. While I have been surviving on fruits and iced tea, my wife has not eaten in two days,” he added.
An Air India spokesperson said: “Our colleagues in Copenhagen have made all efforts to minimise inconvenience caused to the guests because of this unexpected disruption. Guests have been accommodated in hotels and were offered the options of cancellation with full refund and complimentary rescheduling. We will announce the revised schedule shortly.”