Ten hours on plastic chairs, midnight boarding, pre-match heebie-jeebies. Mumbai City FC’s journey to a Super Cup semi-final became the face of a nationwide air travel meltdown as IndiGo cancellations and delays left thousands stranded across India.The former ISL champions reached Goa Thursday morning after their Wednesday afternoon flight was canceled amid widespread disruption. “After nearly 10 hours at the airport, endless queues, and enough chaos to test anyone’s match-day patience, the boys stuck together,” the club posted on social media.They were far from alone. At least 14 IndiGo flights to Goa were canceled and over 25 delayed. Across Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar, terminals overflowed with stranded passengers, rescheduled departures collapsed without warning and airfares spiked to international levels.“My mother-in-law passed away this morning. We paid Rs 40,000 for two one-way tickets to Trivandrum,” said Gopan Nair, stuck at Mumbai airport’s boarding gate after a four-hour delay. “The funeral was postponed so we could attend, but we’re stuck here.”As cancellations mounted, fares turned punishing. One-way economy tickets from Kolkata to Bengaluru surged to between Rs 21,000 and Rs 1 lakh. Same-day fares from Mumbai to Delhi touched Rs 23,000. Kolkata-Delhi fares rose to Rs 25,000–Rs 84,000. “A UK round trip costs around Rs 80,000. People paid nearly that for a one-way domestic ticket,” said Anjani Dhanuka of Travel Agents Association of India.In Kolkata, MBA student Nishita Chowdhury learned her Mumbai flight was canceled only after reaching the airport, a day before an exam. Avik Sarkar, flying from Bengaluru to Kolkata for travel to Arunachal Pradesh, had his flight canceled mid-evening. “The rebooking link didn’t work. I had to pay Rs 24,000 for a new ticket. Now I may miss my next connection,” he said.Others arrived — without luggage. Rakesh Rastogi landed in Kolkata after a 14-hour delay only to find his bags still in Delhi. “We came for a wedding. We arrived without our clothes,” he said. CISF reinforcements were called in as tensions rose at the terminal.At Pune airport, 19 delayed and 11 grounded aircraft occupied most parking bays. Some passengers were trapped inside planes for up to five hours after landing. “The captain said even ATC had no clue when we would deboard,” said Megh Gandhi.In Lucknow, passengers shouted slogans against IndiGo. “No updates, no communication, no responsibility,” posted Dhruv Choudhary. Travel agent Sarvesh Pandey discovered his rescheduled flight had departed without notification, costing him two days and a family function.At Chennai airport, there was similar chaos. “People are sitting on the floor. There’s no proper communication,” said advocate Brahma Puthran, whose Kochi-bound flight was pushed back by hours after being canceled the previous night.In Guwahati, passengers bound for Aizawl said they were told no flights were available for two days. “They promised refunds but no food or hotels,” one traveler said. Some tried humor to cope. “Getting a flight to Mumbai this weekend is like finding a last-minute Coldplay ticket,” one passenger posted.
