Air India was warned about violations in Airbus planes days before AI171 crash: DGCA
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had warned Air India of safety protocol violations after three of its Airbus planes continued operations despite pending security checks of emergency systems. This warning was issued days before the Ahmedabad Air India Plane crash.
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India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
After Ahmedabad crash, Air India faces slew of passenger complaints on social media
New Delhi: Just a week after the devastating crash of Air India flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London, the national carrier is now facing intense backlash from passengers over poor service, damaged baggage, mishandled refunds, and alleged harassment, all of which are surfacing on social media platform X. On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad, claiming 275 lives that included 241 passengers and crew and 34 people on the ground, as the plane had crashed into a hostel of a medical college. The crash, one of the worst in Indian aviation history, has put the airline under a harsh spotlight. And now, passengers are voicing their long-standing frustrations, painting a troubling picture of Air India's service standards. A user named Qamar Saquib posted that on June 18, while travelling from Patna to Jeddah via Delhi on Air India flights AI-2634 and AI-991, he discovered that his gold (5.5 grams) was missing from his luggage upon arrival in Jeddah. 'I filed a complaint immediately at the Jeddah airport,' he wrote, tagging the airline for accountability. Jasmeet Singh raised a separate issue, accusing Air India of not honouring a refund promise made by airport staff. 'It's a clear case of cheating. The staff was insensitive to my mother, a senior citizen, who was travelling with my sisters,' he wrote. In another disturbing post, a user named Sakina alleged that Air India fraudulently cancelled her grandparents' tickets from Mumbai to Bengaluru, both of whom are heart patients. 'On June 9, I received an email saying the tickets for June 26 had been cancelled through the website — something I never did,' she claimed. The refund provided was a mere Rs 1,400 for tickets worth Rs 15,000, and customer service has reportedly gone silent. 'This is a scam,' she wrote, calling the act 'a breach of security' and 'fraudulent.' Yash, another flyer, said he was mentally and physically harassed when he was forced to switch seats multiple times on flight AI-558, despite pre-booking seat 12D. 'I have back problems and was shifted from 12D to 16C, and then to 29D,' he said. Passenger Rajneesh Khullar, tagging the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA, expressed frustration over broken baggage and zero response from Air India. 'We got our bags after a week. One was broken. I have sent over two dozen emails and filed a claim (Case #23700866), but there has been no response,' he wrote. Parul Kumar, who flew on AI-309, called out the airline for 'super dirty' toilets, non-functional screens, and unresponsive attendants, despite paying AUD 1,500 for the tickets. 'Very pathetic service,' she said bluntly. Another flyer, who goes by AR, shared a video from flight AI-810 and requested Air India to change the 'dirty and worn-out tapestry' on its aircraft 'for the sake of Tata Group's reputation and in memory of late Shri Ratan Tata.' These complaints are now adding to the growing pressure on Air India, which is already under scrutiny after the deadly June 12 crash. The national carrier, which was expected to undergo a revival under the Tata Group's ownership, is now facing renewed criticism not only for technical and safety lapses but also for widespread service failures.
India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
231 plane crash victims identified through DNA tests, 210 bodies returned to family
More than a week after the devastating Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, authorities have identified 231 victims through DNA testing. Of these, 210 bodies have been handed over to their families so far.'Till Friday evening, 231 DNA samples have been matched and relatives have been contacted. So far, the mortal remains of 210 victims have been handed over to families,' Rakesh Joshi, Medical Superintendent of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, was quoted as saying by news agency those returned to their families are 199 passengers—155 Indians, 36 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals, and 1 Canadian. The remaining 11 were local residents who were killed when the aircraft slammed into buildings near the crash site. At present, 21 identified bodies are still at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. While DNA matches have been confirmed for all of them, the formalities are still pending. Ten families are expected to collect the remains by Saturday morning. Another three will be handed over after necessary air clearance. The remaining eight are linked to pending DNA confirmations of other of the deceased were earlier handed over without DNA testing as their identities were clearly established. Additionally, three local residents succumbed to injuries during treatment, bringing the total number of ground fatalities to crash, which occurred on June 12, claimed over 270 lives making it one of the deadliest air disasters in India's recent history. Of the 242 passengers and crew members onboard the doomed flight, 241 died in the crash. The lone survivor was Vishwas Kumar, a 28-year-old tech consultant seated near the emergency exit on seat London-bound Air India flight AI-171 had barely taken off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport when it plunged into a medical college complex in the Meghaninagar area. The impact was so severe that many bodies were charred or mangled beyond recognition, prompting the need for extensive DNA Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has recovered the black box of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which will be key to understanding what caused the aircraft to go down so soon after InMust Watch IN THIS STORY#Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Wrong place, wrong time: Filmmaker's life ends in Ahmedabad Air India inferno
Ahmedabad: Mahesh Kalavadia , a 35-year-old Gujarati film producer and director, left his house in Naroda for Shahibaug on his scooter on the afternoon of June 12. He did not return. Anxious, his family filed a missing complaint with the police. No one expected him to be in the area where the London-bound Air India flight crashed the same day. After all, Shahibaug is about 9 km from Meghani Nagar, the site of the plane crash. With all the missing complaints coming over, the police requested the family to provide their DNA sample for a worst-case scenario. The sample matched one of the burnt down bodies recovered from the crash site. Kalavadia indeed was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But his family could not accept it. As the police went on to look for more, they came across a charred scooter and retrieved its engine and chassis numbers which they asked the family to match with that of Kalavadia. They too matched. "Accepting such a loss for any family is incredibly difficult," says Kanan Desai, deputy Commissioner of police, Zone 4, Ahmedabad. "So we produced all the evidence other than the DNA report, including CCTV footage of the nearby area and the engine number and so on." The family performed his last rites at the Naroda crematorium on Friday morning. Sitting by the Civil Hospital morgue a day after the crash, Suresh Patni, an auto driver, had told ET how his son, Akash, who was at a tea stall near the crash site perished in the fire that engulfed the area. Two others who stopped by on a scooter for a cup of tea were also caught in the fire. Kalavadia is believed to be one of those two men on the scooter. As on Friday, more than 231 DNA profiles of the crash victims have been matched. Authorities have so far contacted 220 families and handed over the bodies of 210 victims: 155 Indians, 36 Brits, seven Portuguese, a Canadian and another 11 who were not passengers of the plane. Two people died during treatment.
