TN politicians among stranded SpiceJet passengers

Even the presence of politicians like DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu and BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan failed to alter the situation. The plane was scheduled to leave at 7.25 am from Chennai but nothing transpired even after an hour of the scheduled departure time. 

While the ground staff feigned ignorance and maintained there would be a 20-minute delay, the arrival-departure board merely displayed the security check status. However, after tempers flared with over a delay of two hours, the ground crew came around to claim that there was a technical snag and work was under way to rectify it. Despite this information, even as the subsequent 9.30 am flight of Spice Jet took off to Madurai, the passengers of 7.25 am flight remained stranded with no sight of help at hand.

The situation could be gauged by the tweet put forth by Thangam Tennarsu, which said “It appears there is no guarantee for life, if you choose to travel by SpiceJet. Had a very bad experience.”

One of the passengers Manikanda Thirumeni, who was travelling from US to attend his father’s funeral was at a loss to understand the casual demeanour and utter contempt exhibited by the staff who handled the situation. “I travelled 16 hours from US to Chennai without a hitch and another one hour of travel to Madurai resulted in me being stranded for 12 hours. The staff were unable to even provide a reason and whether it would leave or not or if it would be rescheduled.”