TEAM HERALD
VASCO: A dream sports adventure trip to Goa ended in nightmare when about 60 students of a Punjab university were stranded at Dabolim airport since early Monday morning, after the GoAir ground staff prevented them from boarding the aircraft as they had arrived 45 minutes before the flight could depart for Mumbai.
Despite intimating the GoAir ground staff that their vehicle had encountered a mishap and that they would be delayed by a few minutes, the GoAir ground staff stuck by the rules and insisted that each of them would have to pay Rs 7,000 extra to be accommodated on another flight.
Narrating their harrowing experience, Harsimran Singh, a student of the Thapar University of Patiala, said the 60 students had come down to Goa on a sports adventure trip on October 17.
“We had made a group booking with GoAir Airlines from Goa-Mumbai, Mumbai-Patiala and on Monday morning while we were on our way to Dabolim airport, our vehicle met with a minor accident,” informed Singh.
“Our flight was at 6.50 am and we immediately contacted the ground staff of GoAir at Dabolim airport and intimated the staff that we would be late by 10 minutes due to the accident.”
“All 60 students reached Dabolim airport at 6.05 am and despite informing the GoAir staff about the accident, they refused to give us the boarding pass on grounds that it would take extra time to check-in our luggage,” stated Singh.
“We requested the staff to at least allow 22 girl students to board the flight without their luggage, but our request was turned down,” Singh added.
The desperate students then contacted the officials of Dabolim Airport Authority and narrated their woes. “The officials assured that if the GoAir ground staff permitted us to check in at the airport, they could help us board the flight,” said another student.
The airlines ground staff stuck by the rules and the GoAir flight eventually left for Mumbai without the 60 students.
Singh said they were in for a further shock when the GoAir staff at Dabolim airport insisted that each of them would have to pay Rs 7,000 to board an alternate flight.
“We did not have enough money to pay this extra fare and also for our food,” said Singh.
When contacted, Goa GoAir airlines In-charge Cilvia De Souza refused to comment in the matter and also declined to give the contact number of the GoAir in-charge in Mumbai.
However, Herald managed to obtain the mobile number of an official of GoAir at Mumbai and repeated attempts found the mobile phone out of coverage area.
