A Delhi bound Go First flight from Mumbai was allegedly delayed by an hour owing to an ‘unavailable’ captain, as shared on micro-blogging site Twitter by IAS Sonal Goel. In a series of Tweets, IAS officer Sonal Goel, shared the ordeal of passengers, including herself, who were made to board the vehicle, but were left without proper communication as to when the captain would be ‘available’ for the flight to take-off. Goel also attached images from inside the flight which showed confused and uncomfortable passengers eagerly awaiting a response, wither from the airlines or the cabin crew regarding the delay. In her tweets Sonal Goel informed that the authorities has told the passengers that the captain ‘went off to another flight’. In her first tweet, she wrote, “Unexpected and pathetic handling of flight operations by @GoFirstairways. The Flight G8 345 from Mumbai to Delhi was scheduled to depart at 22:30 hrs . Its more than 1 hour delay & passengers are stuck up inside plane; With airline staff saying that the Captain is not available." Sonal's tweet did receive a reply apologising for the delay from Go First on Twitter. The airlines company, although. cited ‘unforeseen circumstances’ for the delay, neither did they share a concrete update on the situation at hand. “Hi Sonal, we hear you and apologize for the delay that you've experienced. We work hard to run an on-time airline; however, unforeseen events sometimes challenge us. Sorry, this happened with your flight. In the future, we'll try harder to meet your expectations." Go First tweeted. Goel in her reply to Go First pointed out that the apology tweet evades a clarity on the situation, or the departure time. The Delhi bound Go First flight from Mumbai was supposed to take off at 10.32pm on Friday night. Goel in her reply asked the officials to exercise better accountability. She wrote, “Still there is no indication as to what time will the flight depart. Pls enquire about the reasons and fix accountability of the staff/ officers due to which such situation has happened. According to Goel's tweets the flight finally took off after the crew ‘arranged for another captain'. Continuing her Twitter thread, Goel repeatedly pointed at the fact that everyone was made to board the aircraft despite the missing captain. Further she mentioned that the bereft passengers, including kids, were only provided with water and no food in the one hour and 45 minutes delay. Goel also complained about a lack of communication from the staff, and cabin crew about the reason for the delay. Tagging the ministry of civil aviation and the official account of the airlines, the Resident Commissioner of Tripura Bhawan in New Delhi, Goel wrote, “The staff inside flight has no specific answer as to when the Captain will arrive. Is this the way our Commercial flights are supposed to operate; Without any professionalism and accountability ?" Tagging Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a bunch of tweets on Saturday, Goel amped up her attack on the airlines, Go First. “Reason conveyed to passengers was that the Captain of Flight went off to another flight. So they were arranging another Captain. Is this kind of unprofessional handling acceptable? Our citizens of country don’t deserve this kind of handling." The airline is yet to respond to her escalation of the incident on Saturday. Go First, one India’s oldest budget carrier, has found itself under Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) scanner since November last year, after an increased reporting of cancelled or delayed flights. The Friday's event definitely does not add to the airline's salvation.
