IndiGo fiasco: A family’s woes; two days and cities, three flight cancellations
Telegraph | 9 December 2025
December 5: Flight cancelled. Handed boarding passes for the next day’s flight.
December 6: Flight cancelled. Allotted seats on a flight to Delhi the same day, but the connecting flight is on December 8.
December 8: Flight cancelled. Handed a ticket on an evening flight after the passenger got furious.
A businessman from Calcutta who went to Jaipur with his wife and two daughters to attend a wedding was stuck for two days, first in Jaipur and then in Delhi, because of repeated cancellations of IndiGo flights he booked.
Kabish Agarwal was travelling with his wife Esha and daughters Krisha and Anaya. He had bought four tickets on the IndiGo flight from Jaipur to Calcutta on December 5 for ₹11,000 each.
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The Agarwals’ flight was at 6.30pm on December 5.
“Around noon that day, I called the airline to find out whether the flight was operating. We were apprehensive because of the large-scale cancellations that were taking place,” Agarwal told Metro on Sunday. “The airline staff said the flight was operating,” he said.
Upon arriving at the airport around 4.30pm, Agarwal learned that the flight had been cancelled.
“I stood in a queue at the IndiGo counter for two hours. Those at the counter were taking half an hour to address each passenger’s problems. My two daughters, one two and the other six, were feeling unwell and were restless,” he said.
At the counter, he was handed boarding passes for the same flight on December 6.
“We had no choice but to go back to the hotel from where we had checked out. I had to pay ₹30,000 for the room,” he said.
“I told them I was with my wife and two daughters, and if they could provide accommodation. But the staff said they were not authorised to provide accommodation,” said Agarwal.
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On the morning of December 6, Agarwal received a message from IndiGo that the flight was cancelled again.
“This time, I left my wife and children at the hotel and went to the airport. There was a long queue, and once again I stood for two hours before reaching the counter,” said Agarwal.
After much persuasion, the IndiGo staff booked him a flight to Delhi and then a connecting one to Calcutta.
“The flight to Delhi was at 2pm on December 6. However, the one they termed as ‘our connecting flight’ was at 2.30am on December 8,” said Agarwal. “I asked them where we would stay and how we would travel in Delhi? The IndiGo staff replied that they were not authorised to arrange for our accommodation or travel in Delhi and that we had to arrange on our own,” he said.
But he felt relieved that they were finally able to leave Jaipur, where they had been stranded and reach home despite another day’s wait.
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The family reached Delhi around 4pm on December 6. Agarwal booked a hotel for ₹15,000 a night.
“It is wedding season and so rates are high,” he said.
However, on Sunday morning, he received a message from IndiGo that the early morning flight to Calcutta on Monday was cancelled.
“I became furious. I could not take it anymore,” he said.
Agarwal went to the IndiGo counter at Terminal 2 of Delhi airport.
“I started shouting and created a ruckus there. I was exhausted from the cancellations,” he said.
Then the airline staff gave him boarding passes for a flight on Sunday evening.