'Captain Went Off To Another Flight': IAS Officer Tweets After Go First Flight Delay

An IAS officer called out Go First airline after her flight from Mumbai to Delhi was delayed by nearly two hours as the captain left the aircraft. Taking to Twitter, IAS officer Sonal Goel on Friday said that passengers onboard the Mumbai-Delhi flight (G8 345) of the low-cost carrier had to suffer due to the “pathetic handling” of the situation by the airline.

She slammed the airline, sharing a picture as passengers kept waiting for more than an hour inside the plane, as they were informed by the crew that the captain was unavailable. 

“Unexpected and pathetic handling of flight operations by@GoFirstairways. The Flight G8 345 from Mumbai to Delhi was scheduled to depart at 22:30 hrs . Its more than 1 hour delay & passengers are stuck up inside plane; With airline staff saying that the Captain is not available,” the IAS officer wrote in her first tweet.

GoFirst responded almost immediately to the tweet, apologising for the mismanagement. “We work hard to run an on-time airline; however, unforeseen events sometimes challenge us. Sorry, this happened with your flight. In the future, we'll try harder to meet your expectations,” the airline wrote.

However, Goel replied to the airline’s comment slamming it further as there was no update on the flight’s departure. She also complained that there was no specific answer from the crew as to when the captain could be expected.

She said that the delay was of almost 1 hour and 45 minutes and the reason given was that the captain “went off to another flight”. “So they were arranging another Captain,” she wrote. 

Many users on Twitter responded to the IAS officer’s tweets sharing similar experiences they faced while travelling by Go First.

“Go first is Go Last: I was going to Ahmedabad and my flight was 2 hours late so it is Go Last not Go First,” wrote one user.

“Atleast they have reason this time. I had faced 2-3 incident with gofirst where all the ground staff will vanish from the counter as they have to give justification and flight was delayed by 2-3 hour (sic),” another person tweeted.

Tagging Union civil aviation minister Jyotiradtiya Scindia, the IAS officer conveyed that this was not her “unpleasant experience” alone. “Hope the Airlines understand the gravity of the situation,” she said.