It has always been typical to see more people than seats on trains and buses, particularly during the busiest travel times of the summer. However, this incident occurred on an IndiGo aircraft on Tuesday, when a passenger was forced to stand in the back of the aircraft because they were not given a seat for the entire journey. The extra passenger was not seen by the cabin crew until the aircraft began taxiing at the Mumbai airport in preparation for takeoff towards Varanasi, at which point they notified the pilot. The extra passenger disembarked once the airplane made its way back to the bay.

One of IndiGo’s employees was the standby passenger. According to sources, one confirmed passenger arrived late for the trip and was thus classified as a no-show. Thus, the worker, who was a standby passenger, got on board the plane.
However, the tardy passenger also showed up and occupied the seat, leaving the standby without a seat. DGCA and BCAS, two regulatory bodies, are looking into this error. They are investigating the standby passenger’s onboard procedure. It has been discovered that the standby passenger was only allowed to travel with a cabin bag and had no checked luggage.

In a statement, IndiGo said: “A standby customer was given a seat that was designated for a confirmed passenger due to an error that occurred during the passenger boarding procedure of 6E 6543 from Mumbai to Varanasi. The standby passenger was removed from the airplane when the error was discovered before takeoff. The aircraft’s departure was somewhat delayed as a result of this. IndiGo apologizes for any difficulty it has caused its clients and promises to take all necessary steps to improve its operational procedures.”