Lufthansa's Frankfurt-Bengaluru flight that was diverted on Tuesday to Istanbul due to a medical emergency landed at the Kempegowda International Airport on Thursday afternoon after over 45-hour delay.
Passengers, including senior citizens and infants, were stranded at Istanbul airport with "no assistance from the airlines".
#LH754 13:50 IST Update: Landed in BLR with no problems. Immigration and baggage next, hopefully is not a problem. @lufthansa we still expect a detailed report as to why this happened this way, what is being done to avoid it in the future, and how we will be compensated. pic.twitter.com/VagZJ0Gaax
— Lochan Appannah (@LuzingMyMind) October 20, 2022
Lufthansa in a statement had said that after the emergency, used oxygen cylinders had to be replaced, which took more time than expected.
"There were mothers travelling alone with the infants, elderly couples who can’t walk, don’t understand or talk in English or Kannada. There were people with no access to their medicines," Sowbhagyalakshmi, a stranded passenger, told DH.
"There was no official communication from Lufthansa for almost 30 hours. There were some officials walking around saying that it is a technical issue. Timings of the revised flights were not communicated to the passengers either, which led to confusion," she said.
Flight LH 754 took off from Frankfurt at 1.05 pm on Tuesday, expected to reach India the next day at 1.25 am. It had to land less than an hour after it took off, at 2 pm, in Istanbul due to the emergency.
@lufthansa worst ever service from Lufthansa, stranded in Istanbul airport for 18+ hours..elderly people, babies..everyone struggling ! You promised hotels, quick resolution..but NOTHING! #emergency LH754 pic.twitter.com/mVSDfAIryX
— Jibin John (@jibinjohn) October 19, 2022
Can't believe how @lufthansa takes Indian customers for granted. My Frnkfurt-Blore flight landed last evening 7pm in Istanbul for medical emergency. 17 hours later - no hotel, no staff, no explanation, 300 passengers stranded, no info whatsoever. @AmbAckermann @GermanCG_BLR
— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 19, 2022
27 hours -still stranded in Istanbul Airport. @lufthansa airline obviously suffering from existential Crisis. Being called Racists, complacent, incapable, indifferent, evil, while 380 passengers - mainly Indian, are treated as homeless. No hotel, no lounge, no access to luggage. pic.twitter.com/XFJBfUKvdq
— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 19, 2022
Passengers were fuming as the airline reportedly promised them hotel rooms and a quick resolution to the problem, none of which materialised. Many took to Twitter to slam the airline's poor management.
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