Pune: On Tuesday night, passengers of an IndiGo flight from Hyderabad to Pune waited longer at the baggage carousel for their luggage to arrive than the time they spent flying, triggering chaos and anger at the airport.Magarpatta resident Jesal Sampat, who was with his family that included a six-month-old, landed in Pune on IndiGo 6E-426 at 9.35pm after a 50-minute flight, delayed by 20 minutes. However, he and around 150 other passengers waited nearly an hour before their luggage began to arrive.Sampat told TOI: “After landing, we were directed to baggage belt number 5, but the flight number was displayed on belt number 3 inside the terminal.” He said frustration mounted as no baggage appeared on the carousel despite a long wait.The Pune airport has five baggage conveyor belts at its new terminal. Airport officials said the new system is larger and more efficient than the one at the old terminal. The airport handles around 200 flight movements and nearly 15,000 arriving passengers every day.“There were over 230 passengers on the flight and around 150 were waiting near the belt. There was no sign of the airline’s ground staff. There were children, senior citizens and families standing helplessly. My checked-in baggage included our baby stroller. People eventually became angry and started calling for the ground staff,” he said.“Three or four staff members eventually arrived, but had no explanation. They repeatedly cited congestion, but couldn’t explain what kind. During our wait, at least five other flights landed, passengers collected their baggage and left, and several belts became empty. Yet our luggage hadn’t arrived,” Sampat said.IndiGo’s spokesperson was sent a detailed query on WhatsApp regarding the incident, but no official response was received till the time of going to press. Airline sources said the issue happened because of congestion and rains, without further explanations.Pune airport director Santosh Dhoke told TOI: “As far as the airport infrastructure is concerned, all five arrival baggage belts are fully operational and adequate to handle the arrival traffic load. The responsibility for baggage delivery, including timely unloading and placement on the baggage belts, rests solely with the respective airlines and their ground handling agencies.”Under prescribed service norms, the first checked-in bag should arrive on the carousel within 10 minutes of the aircraft engines being shut down, while the last bag should be delivered within 30 minutes.Sampat said the baggage finally started to arrive around 10.45pm. “The ordeal was still not over. Our bags and the baby stroller were wet,” he said.With similar complaints surfacing in the past, aviation analyst Dhairyashil Vandekar called for an inquiry. “The AAI’s ground handling system assigns baggage belts to flights and informs airlines staff. There are strict timelines for baggage delivery in India and reasons for such a delay should be investigated,” he said.
