NEW DELHI: For London-based Sudhir Pandey, a trip to India to meet his parents after three years has turned into a nightmare due to the unending chaos at European airports. He boarded a Lufthansa flight from London to Munich on December 14 and was to take a connecting flight from there to Delhi.
However, severe weather disruptions in Germany meant that the connecting flight was first delayed and then cancelled. He was finally put on an Emirates flight which took off from Munich early on December 16 and then managed to reach Delhi via Dubai a day later — three days after leaving London — while his baggage is still yet to reach him. Thus, a 12-hour journey had turned into a 72-hour ordeal.
People taking flights/connecting flights to across India, among other destinations, are facing this ordeal in the winter of discontent at many EU and London airports.
“Me and hundreds of other India-bound passengers like me spent December 14 night at Munich airport on the floor. Lufthansa did not offer us food, water or a hotel. Then we were told that an Emirates flight will take us to Dubai on December 15 which finally left in the early hours of December 16. So we spent half on 14th and all of 15th at Munich airport. We missed the connecting flight to Delhi. Luckily in Dubai the airline gave us a hotel. Finally we left Dubai in the early hours of December 17 and landed in Delhi that morning. However, I and hundreds others like me are yet to get our baggage. This trip home after three years is ruined,” Pandey, a project engineer in London said.
He says affected passengers have formed a WhatsApp group and a Facebook page and there are “thousands of people affected like me. On my flight almost everyone was coming to India for holidays for 2-3 weeks. There was a family of 14 from Anand (Gujarat) who were travelling with a couple for their wedding here. Their marriage is on December 24 and there’s no sign of their luggage. My wife has a rare disease, and her medicines are in the luggage. This medicine is not easily available in India,” Pandey said.
In a statement, Lufthansa said: “The extreme weather conditions of the past few days have had an impact on all travel and air traffic in Germany. Lufthansa had to cancel or delay flights due to the extreme weather conditions of the past week. Due to staff shortages at the system partners, baggage could often not be loaded either. Lufthansa regrets the inconvenience this has caused passengers.”
“Lufthansa has made further flight cancellations for the next few days to stabilise the flight schedule over the holidays and the New Year. Passengers will be informed about the cancellations and will be offered alternative travel options,” the airline said.
About delayed baggage, Lufthansa spokesperson said: “Air transport works through a carefully coordinated system of all partners — airports, airlines, ground handlers, government security controllers, air traffic controllers. Currently, the system is under considerable pressure due to the tense weather conditions of the past week and staff shortages at the airports. In recent days, this has resulted in pieces of luggage not being able to be transported with the passenger. Lufthansa is working together with the airports to ensure that the baggage that was not transported can be delivered.”
European airports have been facing a severe shortage of tried manpower since summer when the demand for travel returned. Airlines have been facing the brunt of airports’ unpreparedness, with Frankfurt, Munich, London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol being among the worst affected.
