US Customs Department fines Indigo, passengers stranded in Istanbul for hours due to flight delay

The US Customs and Border Protection Department has fined Indigo Airlines $ 5,832.60 (Rs 488333.27) for the delay in payment of the immigration user fee. "The authority has imposed a fine for payment of immigration user fees after the due date as the same is non-interlineable tax," it said. The company is trying to get a waiver of the penalty. The company told this in a regulatory filing on Thursday. It has clarified that the same had no material impact on its financial, operational, or other activities. Shares of IndiGo's parent company InterGlobe Aviation gained 1.22 percent to Rs 4,430.50 per share on the BSE on Thursday. IndiGo was informed by the US authority about the fine on July 24.

In another incident, the airline made 200 passengers wait at Istanbul airport on Thursday. The passengers took to social media to vent their anger. Actually, IndiGo had delayed its Delhi-bound flight by 12 hours. Due to technical faults in the aircraft, passengers were made to wait for several hours.

Hriday Madan, a passenger on the delayed flight 6E 12, shared his ordeal in a post on Instagram, saying, "Absolutely pathetic service from IndiGo Airlines. My wife and I are returning from Milan to Istanbul via codeshare booking with IndiGo-Turkish Airlines (6E 4156). 6E 12 is scheduled to fly to Delhi. We landed in Istanbul at 3 pm and now our connecting flight is delayed." Another passenger, Govind Kankan, wrote, "Pathetic situation at Istanbul airport for passengers traveling from Istanbul to Delhi. Turkish IndiGo 6E-12 flight is now delayed by more than six hours and the operator is negligent. The food served to passengers at the airport is stale."

IndiGo issued a statement and regretted the inconvenience caused to passengers. "Passengers were informed about the delay, refreshments were served and necessary arrangements were made immediately to reduce waiting time at the airport," the statement said.