Caught in jam, many miss flights in Mumbai

Although flights operated in and out of Mumbai airport on Monday in spite of torrential rains, many passengers missed their flights due to heavy traffic and bad roads.

Even though they started for the airport quite early, they could not reach the airport on time.

Devraj VR, 46, a resident of Mangalore, was in Navi Mumbai for 10 days with his family.

On Monday, the family left their relative’s house at 9am for the airport to catch their flight to Mangalore that was to depart at 1.45pm. “We reached the Santacruz domestic terminal only at 1.10pm due to traffic,” said Devraj.

“We were not allowed to board the flight. The airline has the next flight to Mangalore only the next day. Now we have to stay here for another day and we are looking for a hotel room nearby,” he added.

Maria Gnanam’s (40) family was also among those unlucky passengers who were stuck on the roads for hours and missed their flights.

“We were at Dombivli and had a flight to Trivandrum at 12.15pm,” said Gnanam. As there were no trains from Dombivli, the Gnanam family of five started at 7am. “There were no trains so we hired a cab for Rs3,000. But our cab broke down on the way,” she said.

They reached the airport at 12.45pm after the flight had left. “The airline has accommodated us on tomorrow’s flight so now we will either book a hotel room or stay at the airport. There is no point in going back to Dombivli as you never know when the weather will turn bad,” she said.

Even Gyanendra Singh, 36, and his friends from Lucknow missed their early morning flight to Lucknow as they were stuck in traffic.

“We were at Hotel Host Inn, Marol, and started for the airport at 5.45am as our flight was at 6.50am,” said Singh. “Though it is only a 30-minute drive from Marol to Santacruz, we reached the airport at 7am,” he says.

News Reference: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_caught-in-jam-many-miss-flights-in-mumbai_1581112

Posted in: flights in Mumbai,Hotel Host Inn,Mumbai Airport