When A Flight Fails, Airlines Must Respond

A flight may be cancelled for reasons beyond an airline's control. The chaos that follows need not be, points out Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).

Having spent over three decades in aviation and most of my professional life in the armed forces where contingencies are a part of everyday life, I understand that aircraft can become unserviceable and missions can be disrupted by weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

What matters then is not merely the problem itself, but how quickly the system responds, who takes charge, and how effectively the people affected are looked after.

I was reminded of this recently, though in a rather unpleasant way.

On August 20, 2026, I was to travel from Chandigarh to Pune via Delhi on an Air India flight scheduled to depart Chandigarh in the evening hours.

Following the familiar military principle of reaching well in time, I was at the airport two hours before as prescribed, all set to attack my book and coffee as I waited for the flight.

The flight was, expectedly, on schedule and we boarded in good time.

Then the trouble began.

It was well past departure, and I was wondering why we weren't being pushed back when the captain's voice bought some relief.

"We have a minor technical delay and should be on our way in 10 minutes."

Through my window of the first seat, I saw technicians go about their job of fault finding and repair. The problem was being discussed animatedly as they walked around the aircraft.

Additional equipment was towed in and attached to the belly of the aircraft, obviously to resolve the problem.

With the cabin getting hotter by the minute, I wondered if the problem was related to the functioning of the air-conditioning system. Coupled with the high humidity -- it was sweaty and uncomfortable.

Passengers Fear Missed Connections

With passing time, call buttons buzzed every few seconds. Everyone wanted to know why it was so hot and how much more delay was expected.

"Captain is taking a decision sir," was the only reply they got from the cabin crew.

I tried to defuse the situation with the people who sat near me. "The crew are not allowed to tell us anything without the captain's explicit clearance," I explained with an air of authority.

Many of us passengers had connecting flights; while quite a few seemed to have international connections to catch. With the delay, I was sure that I was missing mine; and I was also sure that the airline would look after me and others and reschedule our itineraries.

A lady passenger who had traveled from her home in the hills was in tears. She was sure to miss her flight to Dubai and didn't even have a credit card to buy a new ticket.

Another old couple pleaded with the crew to get airborne soonest since they had to go to meet their son who was in hospital post an accident.

All people don't travel for business and pleasure only.

After a wait of more than an hour and no announcements, we finally pushed back and tempers cooled. I hoped that the air conditioning would now do its job and dry our drenched clothes.

The sigh of relief of getting off the ground didn't last long.

After yet another delay on the taxiway, the aircraft moved. But not towards the runway. It was towed back to where it had been pushed back from.

The aerobridge was re-attached, and we hoped to be out of this stale atmosphere soon.

Passengers crowded the aisle in a rush to get off quickly, but there was another inexplicable delay, leading to some hot exchanges between the passengers and the crew.

We were soon out into the air conditioned atmosphere of the arrival hall.

What followed was, in many ways, more distressing than the technical problem itself.

There seemed to be no single, clearly identifiable person in charge of the situation as people rushed towards anyone who wore an Air India security pass around his neck.

The flight was rescheduled. But as take-off time approached, many of us were still waiting for our fresh boarding passes, albeit not so patiently.

Passengers who lost hope, made fresh travel plans and booked on other airlines or made it to the taxi stand to move by road. I am sure a lot of money was made by many that evening.

Air India Cancellation Triggers Passenger Chaos

As we reached the boarding gate, another disappointment awaited. The new flight stood canceled! However, since no announcements were made, this news traveled like Chinese whispers from passenger to passenger leading to shouting and arguments with the hapless officials.

Finally, after a marathon 7 hours at the airport, those who agreed to travel the next day were sent to a designated hotel, not after some more anxious moments.

The decision of cancellation by the airline was perfectly understandable. An aircraft that is not airworthy must not fly and we must respect that. But the chaos that followed was absolutely avoidable.

Do airlines have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for handling contingencies? I am sure they do.

Do they practice emergency situations so as to be professional and efficient whilst tackling them? Having seen what had happened that day, I seriously doubt that.

The passenger or guest as one is called, is most important and central to the airline and he or she needs to be assured that things are under control.

Why couldn't the airline set up disruption counters with sufficient manning? Why did they not use PA systems that they carry around on their shoulders? Why were decisions taking so long?

There were so many questions and not many answers.

The problem with human beings is that, once an emergency is over, we often fail to systematically record the lessons learnt or incorporate them into procedures and practices for the future.

Instead, we wait for the next contingency and improvise all over again. Unfortunately, this tendency often percolates into organisations and institutions -- sad reflection of our failure to learn from experience.

Baggage handling is such a set procedure and works like a well-oiled system. Why does it fail on a canceled flight? Our luggage was delivered in the departure lounge itself, but strewn all over in lots, leading to panic amongst passengers.

A good way to bring down tensions and make the passenger feel cared for is to provide for water and snacks, a drill which is routine.

Most of the passengers would have arrived between 1 and 2 pm and it was not before 2030 that some water and snacks appeared on a luggage trolley with no one there to distribute the same.

Anyway, by that time just a few passengers were left to get what was due to them.

The transport to the hotel created another problem. Six passengers and their luggage were crammed into one vehicle. Cost savings or just apathy towards passengers?

I think a bit of both. A passenger with a broken leg was asked to 'adjust' for the short journey to the hotel.

Indifference towards safety of the passenger is non-negotiable.

The last straw was handled by me in the morning at the hotel before my departure.

I was told that just one car had been arranged at 1330 hours to take the passengers to the airport whilst my flight was at 1340! I had to ring up my contacts in the air force to get some mobile numbers of the airport manager and get the work done.

None of what the passengers went through was unavoidable.

The aircraft could have remained unserviceable. The cancellation could have remained unavoidable. But the passenger experience could have been dramatically different.

Having been through many emergency situations, some as big as the tsunami catastrophe, I am convinced that all one requires to deal with these is a well-organised and trained team. Nothing else.

Yet, one gets to hear and see similar experiences of passengers on social media and the news quite often.

What the airlines need to do is to become more human and humane. The passenger just needs some water, snacks and reassuring words and a smiling official who is empathetic to his needs. That is it.

One of the striking impressions from my experience was that the ground staff appeared to be trying their best, but without a visible system supporting them. They bore the brunt of the passengers for an organisational fault.

If an aircraft develops a technical problem, the airline should be applauded for refusing to compromise safety.

The passenger should never expect an airline to fly an aircraft that is not airworthy simply because he has a connecting flight.

Cancellation Is Not The End

The failure occurs when the organisation treats the cancellation as the end of its responsibility.

In reality, the cancellation is the beginning of another operation: Getting the passenger safely and efficiently to his destination or otherwise taking care of him until the journey can be completed. Perhaps the most frustrating part of a disruption is the feeling that passengers are dependent on the goodwill of individual airline employees.

Any airline's passenger charter recognises the need to minimise inconvenience caused by cancellations and provides for alternate travel, refunds, and, in applicable circumstances, compensation and passenger facilities.

The rules therefore exist. The question is whether the systems on the ground are designed to deliver them.

In the military, a contingency plan is not made because the commander expects something to go wrong. It is made precisely because something eventually will. We do believe that when things have to go wrong, they will...

The success of an organisation is not demonstrated when everything goes according to plan. It is demonstrated when a plan fails.

It should be able to absorb the shock, establish command and control, communication, priorities, reallocate resources to get the mission back on track.

A flight cancellation may be unavoidable. Several hours of uncertainty, inadequate communication, queues, confusion, lack of refreshments, chaotic baggage retrieval and unsafe transport arrangements are not.

The aircraft may fail. The system should not.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff