Dr Datta MD, a former Delhi-AIIMS doctor, allegedly faced ignorance for his pre-booked during his recent flight from Bengaluru to Delhi. He took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share his experience of his life while flying with an Indian carrier. In a thread, he explained about how his flight turned into a "nightmare."
"My recent flight from Bangalore to Delhi turned into a nightmare that I hope no one else has to experience! I am not going to leave it here. @IndiGo6E needs to be held accountable for the pathetic downfall in its service!," said Dr Datta in a post on X.
Being a diabetic, Dr Datta said he always pre-booked his meals during flight journeys. Even this time, he did the same thing: "I always pre-book my meals because I have borderline high sugar levels, prefer having my meals on time, and avoid overeating or skipping meals… So, I pre-booked a sandwich on this afternoon flight, as from experience, they always ignore non-prebooked meals!"
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Dr Datta said that the crew at the beginning of the flight journey crew told him that his meal would be delayed due to an issue at Bengaluru airport. "We took off around 3:30 PM, and soon after, meal service began. When the crew came to my seat, they informed me that my pre-booked meal might be delayed due to an issue at Bangalore. I was patient, understanding that delays sometimes happen," he added.
The doctor alleged that he waited for half an hour for his pre-booked meal. "After waiting for about half an hour, I politely asked if there was any problem. A crew member replied that another colleague would serve me," Dr Datta said.
"Despite this, I received no further update, and I was really starting to get pissed off as they very comfortably were just ignoring me!"
Dr Datta said he was "pissed" off and switched on the emergency call light. "I still waited, growing increasingly irritated and jittery from hypoglycemia. Around 4:00 PM, a kind passenger noticed my distress and offered me her sandwich.But I was super pissed off by then and switched on the emergency call light!"
He alleged that there was no response from the IndiGo crew till the captain announced landing at the Delhi Airport. He said there was no response to the emergency light. "No response!!! Then came the breaking point: the captain announced that we were already descending, yet there was still no word on my meal or response to the emergency light. Their complete indifference was infuriating and made me think: What if this neglect put someone in a medical emergency in real danger?," he added.
However, the doctor said he received his meal at around 5.40 a few minutes before landing, but he was offered black coffee instead of black tea. "Finally, at around 5:40 PM, when the crew came near my seat, I mentioned I’m pre-diabetic and stressed the importance of having my meal on time! I at last received my meal: a sandwich and a cup of black coffee when I had asked for black tea (without sugar)."
"By that time I was so hypoglycaemic that I did not even have the energy or strength to argue!," he said further.
Dr Datta claimed that his emergency call was ignored for 30 minutes by the flight crew. "What really shocked me was that the calling light on my seat went unanswered for nearly 30 minutes. With an empty seat beside me, I couldn’t help but wonder how the situation would have been handled if I were in true medical emergency," he stated further.
"I have recorded every conversation with exact timestamps, and I’m prepared to escalate this to the national consumer forum. Passengers deserve better, especially when such gross neglect could cost someone their life if in a real emergency," he said.