IndiGo, a major player in the Indian aviation sector, announced a scheduled system upgrade set to take place from 11 pm on January 16, 2024, until 8:30 am on January 17, 2024 that would temporarily make key services unavailable on its website and app. The airline assured uninterrupted flight operations at all airports during this period, however, it comes during a time when severe travel disruptions have occurred at the Delhi airport due to dense fog and low visibility.
The airline informed passengers that services such as self-baggage drop and Digi Yatra facilities would not be accessible during the upgrade. Additionally, services related to IndiGo's website, mobile app, and contact centre would be impacted.
In a statement, IndiGo said, "To provide improved customer experience, our systems will be upgraded from 2300hrs IST on January 16, 2024 till 0830hrs IST on January 17, 2024. While we will ensure uninterrupted flight operations at all our airports, self-baggage drop and Digi Yatra will be unavailable, and our website, app and contact centre will be impacted. Please complete your web check-in, print/download your boarding pass, and make modifications to your booking in advance."
To mitigate inconvenience for passengers, IndiGo strongly advised completing web check-in, printing or downloading boarding passes, and making any necessary modifications to bookings ahead of the scheduled system upgrade.
This system upgrade follows recent travel delays and disruptions that caused chaos at the Delhi airport from Saturday evening onwards. Delhi airport, which handles nearly 1,200 flights a day, faced several delays which disrupted flight plans pan India. IndiGo, which holds over 60 per cent of the domestic market share in air travel, faced the brunt of challenges with travel disruptions and passenger dissatisfaction.
In an incident on Sunday, an IndiGo pilot was assaulted by a passenger while announcing delays, leading to a viral video of the assault. While netizens initially called for action against the violent outburst, since then, many co-passengers have spoken about the alleged unprofessional treatment of the flight staff. One passenger stated that, while they did not condone violence, the IndiGo flight crew had withheld information and the assault came after the pilot tried to blame the passengers for the delays.
Passengers from other IndiGo flights have also complained about mismanagement, long queues and lack of support from the airlines during this time. Complaints include crew not providing food or water to passengers who were made to wait for hours in grounded flights that were delayed. Similarly, videos of rude passengers have also flooded social media platforms.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has issued show-cause notices to IndiGo and Mumbai International Airport following a video showing passengers eating on the tarmac amid flight delays. The ministry expressed dissatisfaction with both entities for not proactively anticipating the situation and making appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers. IndiGo and MIAL were cited for not considering passenger convenience, security norms, and operational issues in planning and executing flight operations during the incident.
At the time of publishing the airline website was still down.
At the time of publishing the airline website was still down.
