Travelers taking the Air India from Delhi and Mumbai to San Francisco have complained of many delays. As the largest carrier on the India-US non-stop routes, Air India operates extensively to San Francisco with 18 weekly flights: Four from Mumbai, three from Bengaluru, and eleven from Delhi. Nevertheless, the San Francisco route is well-established yet infamous for frequent delays. They involved diversions to Russia last year, 15-20-hour delays, and downgrades from Premium Economy to Economy class, which generated many complaints on social networks.
The most recent incident affects flight AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco, which was supposed to take off yesterday afternoon but is only anticipated to depart at 1500 hours today, as highlighted on Air India’s website. This comes after the flight from Mumbai to San Francisco was delayed for 18 hours a few days back. According to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24, none of the Air India flights operating on the San Francisco route has been on time within the last week, with several flight delays and occasional cancellations.
Airlines always hope for early turns, while ground handling teams usually do not let passengers off unless it is an emergency, as was seen in both incidents. Thus, deplaning causes additional time on the ground to be needed. For ultra long-haul flights like SFO, it may call for a crew change due to Flight Duty Time Limitations. Moreover, it is difficult to arrange last-minute accommodation for over 200 passengers and their related security and immigration permissions.
Functionally, whereas delay may appear reasonable to the passengers, it spells an operational nightmare. Pictures have emerged of passengers such as children and elderly sitting on the benches in the aerobridge area, raising concern over how IRROPS are handled. This raises concerns about whether the airline and airport operations teams are ready to handle such situations. Enhancing cooperation and faster decision making could reduce the passengers’ suffering brought by these delays.