Stranded for two days, 120 Saudi Airlines passengers to leave Kochi on Monday
Kochi: The 120 passengers of Saudi Airlines stranded at the Cochin International Airport since Saturday evening will have to spend another night in the city.
Even though Saudi Airlines has said that flights have been arranged for the stranded passengers, the earliest departure is not until 11.30 am on Monday. A second set of the stranded passengers are scheduled to fly by 8.25pm.
The passengers were left high and dry after the airlines removed them Saturday evening.
According to Manorama News, around 8.25 pm, passengers onboard the flight were asked to deboard citing technical issues. But around 11 pm, the flight took off with some passengers, who had booked onward flights to Canada and the US.
Talking to Manorama News, passengers said that they would lose their jobs if they failed to reach Riyadh on Monday.
After hours of being stranded at the airport, they were moved to a nearby hotel as the airline failed to make arrangements for their travel. According to reports, all passengers were shifted to a nearby hotel after they started quarrelling with the airline staff.
At the same time, the passengers alleged that they were forced to wait in the jetway for nearly six hours and the airline staff were very rude to them.
Manorama News reported that the passengers haven't received any update on their flight either through phone or Email from the airlines.
“We were asked to deboard as soon as we boarded after completing the immigration formalities. Among the passengers, some people have to report for duty on Monday. The visas of some people will expire in the next few days. While shifting to the hotel, the airline officials told us that they would inform us about the travel arrangements through mail or phone calls. But we have received no information till now,” a woman passenger told Manorama News.
It is learnt that the airport authority too has not received any update from the airlines about alternate travel plans.
