Mumbai resident Aditya Tiwari's vacation plans were thrown out of gear when his Newark-bound Air India flight (on Wednesday) was cancelled at the last minute. Forced to re-book his tickets through another airline for the next day, the trip cost him an additional Rs 25,000 along with hours of uncertainty.

Several travellers were stranded as more than 40 international flights of Air India and Air India Express were cancelled as a result of the AI pilots' strike.

Passengers travelling in the Doha-bound Air India Express flight at the Mumbai airport had little choice but to wait. “We were not informed about the flight cancellation. Even at the airport there was no clarity,” said a passenger at Mumbai airport whose AI Express flight to Doha was cancelled on Thursday morning. Passengers complained that the other carriers were not accepting credit or debit cards to make alternative flight bookings.

No prior intimation

Travel agents that Business Line spoke to said that no prior information of cancellations was provided for the Air India Express flights.

“We are being flooded with calls from passengers. In this pilots-AI management tussle, it is the passengers and travel agents who are getting affected the most,” said a travel agent of Mumbai-based Cosmos Agencies. The growing uncertainty has led to many travellers booking their tickets on other flights, albeit at much higher fares.

For instance, Mr Reji Philip had booked tickets for his family in the Air India flight from Mumbai to New Jersey for May 13. “The flights in this sector were cancelled in the last two days. In the same sector, the fares on other airlines are almost double and are more than Rs 1 lakh for the same date,” Mr Philip, who had made his travel plans three months in advance, said.

With tickets on other carriers that operate on the affected routes almost sold out, many have had to cancel vacations.

> niveditag@thehindu.co.in

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