Passengers on the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH165 from London to Kuala Lumpur were left stranded in India after the flight was rerouted to the Mumbai International Airport (BOM). The flight was scheduled for a layover at Doha but, due to technical issues, landed in Mumbai on 24th November.
The sudden reroute caused frustration for the passengers because they were kept in the dark about their next flight. According to social media posts, 130 passengers were affected, which included the elderly and young children. Some flyers booked the same flight through Qatar Airways and were similarly affected by the issue. Some passengers also alleged that the ground staff didn’t know what to do and both Malaysia Airlines and Qatar Airways were unable to provide solutions to those affected.
@MAS flight #MH165 had emergency landing in Mumbai as the plane broke midflight, then passengers, including babies, children and elderly people, had to wait 3 hours on the plane then 2 hours on the bus (and no one gives any information to the passengers, @OneWorldAir pic.twitter.com/2QUuI8Gou0
— Ilon (@IlonDemirtshyan) November 25, 2023
According to some passengers, they had to wait at the Mumbai airport for more than 6 hours and even had their passports held by immigration officers. A video shared on Twitter revealed that the passengers also had to wait hours on a bus as they could not exit the terminal. The affected passengers were given rooms at the Westin Mumbai around midnight but, even after a day, still did not receive any news or updates about a rescheduled flight on 26th November.
However, the children of one of the affected passengers shared that flights have been scheduled for today (27th November) to bring some passengers to Kuala Lumpur. MAS have responded to several tweets regarding this, adding that the airline is working to get the other passengers to their respective destinations but no additional information has been shared with the public.
As of reporting, Malaysia Airlines has yet to issue a formal statement regarding this matter but has responded to enquiries from relatives of the passengers. For now, we can only hope those affected will safely arrive at their destination and receive compensation for their troubles.
Sources: Scoop, Twitter (1)(2)(3)(4)
