IndiGo's flights from Delhi lands in Istanbul without passengers' luggage

Because of strong headwinds on Delhi-Istanbul route for the last two days, the low-cost carrier has been unable to take most of the check-in luggage in the same aircraft along with passengers, said an airline spokesperson.

For the last two days, Indigo flights from Delhi to Istanbul have been taking off without the checked-in luggage of most of its passengers due to payload restrictions resulting from heavy headwinds, said sources on Monday.

Several passengers, who have travelled on Delhi-Istanbul flights on Saturday and Sunday, have given vent to their ire on social media after reaching their destination without luggage.

IndiGo operates two flights daily on Delhi-Istanbul route.

The two flights -- 6E15 and 6E11 -- depart from Delhi daily at 11.45 am and 2 pm, respectively.

The low-cost carrier uses its A320neo and A321neo aircraft on this route.

IndiGo passenger Chandrika Garg tweeted on Monday, "@IndiGo6E Brazen apathy shown by you guys. I, along with other passengers on flight 6E11 on September 14, still haven't received my luggage at Istanbul Airport...Stranded, no luggage/essential medicines/documents. Your service centre in India not helping. @MoCA_GoI help pls."

@MoCA_GoI is the Twitter handle for the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Another passenger Manoj Jaiswal said on Twitter that he travelled on the same 6E11 flight on Saturday "with not a single baggage on-board."

Passengers travelling on 6E 11 flight on Sunday (September 15) also underwent the same experience.

A passenger named Chinmay Dabke tweeted on Monday that he travelled on 6E11 flight on Sunday and the "airline did not load the luggage of the entire flight."

"Not a single passenger got their luggage," he added.

Gautam Saraf, who was also travelling on the same flight on Sunday, tweeted his boarding pass on Monday morning and complained that he has not received his check-in luggage.

The A320neo and A321neo aircraft used by IndiGo are narrow-body aircraft.

In case there are strong headwinds, the plane has to carry higher amount of fuel, necessitating unloading of passengers and their baggage to reduce weight.

Because of strong headwinds on Delhi-Istanbul route for the last two days, the low-cost carrier has been unable to take most of the check-in luggage in the same aircraft along with passengers, said an airline spokesperson.

"Unfortunately, due to the exceptionally heavy headwind we had certain pay load restrictions on a few fights to Istanbul which led to the off-loading of a limited number of checked-in baggage," he said.

"In light of these limitations, we have upgraded our aircraft and adjusted the payload as long as the prevailing wind conditions remain, so all the left behind baggage will be carried today.

“We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers," he added.

However, according to flightradar24.com, the same A321neo aircraft VT-IUD which had been used as 6E11 flight on Saturday and Sunday was used in Monday's 6E11 flight.

According to the website, the 6E15 flight, which departs daily at 11.45 am from Delhi to Istanbul -- was conducted on Monday by the same A320neo aircraft VT-IZP that had flown on Saturday and Sunday.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters