'Going to the back stone age ... ': IndiGo issues handwritten boarding passes to fliers at Hyderabad airport
Times of India | 19 July 2024
A hand-written boarding pass at Hyderabad Airport. (Image credit: X/@akothari) HYDERABAD: A major Microsoft outage has caused disruptions at various airports across India, including the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad. As a result of the technical issues, passengers were given hand-written boarding passes to facilitate their travel.
The global outage of Microsoft services presented significant obstacles to airport operations.The impact of the disruption is evident in a circulating photograph that depicts a passenger holding a hand-written boarding pass for a flight to Kolkata.
Akshay Kothari, the co-founder of US-based firm NotionHQ, shared his experience on X (formerly Twitter) by posting a picture of his "first handwritten boarding pass" before his flight.
He wrote, "The Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage has taken down most airports in India. I got my first hand-written boarding pass today."
The image shared by Kothari showcased a boarding pass that most people have never encountered before, with the flight number, seat number, and boarding time all written by hand, reminiscent of a bygone era in air travel.
In response to the outage, Hyderabad Airport has released an advisory acknowledging the impact on airline services due to the global IT incident.
"We are closely working with all our stakeholders to minimise the inconvenience to our flyers. You may please get in touch with the airline concerned for updates on your flight information. We thank you for your support and understanding," the advisory stated.
Airport authorities and airline personnel are diligently working to handle the situation and ensure that passengers can proceed with their travel plans despite the technological challenges. According to airport officials, the use of hand-written boarding passes was a necessary step to maintain operational continuity and reduce delays.