Anand Kumar Singh, a Balewadi resident who was returning from a family wedding, said the scene at the baggage carousel was of chaos. “We were eventually told that the luggage of 70 to 100 flyers never made it onto the plane. When we confronted the ground staff, they claimed the pilot decided not to load the bags because the flight was full and the Patna airport runway is too short to support a heavy take-off,” Singh said. Singh, who did not find four of his bags, added, “It is deeply concerning. There was no proper communication, and no one could tell us exactly when our belongings would arrive. I plan to lodge a police complaint.” The delay caused more than just an inconvenience for some. Another traveller expressed desperation over missing medication. “All my expensive medicines are in that bag. The airline hasn’t given us a clear timeline. How am I supposed to replace these immediately? This is incredibly stressful,” he said. Frustrated passengers took to social media to vent their anger. “IndiGo flight 6E-126 deboarded 100 bags without giving proper information. No one is ready to take ownership. We are going through mental trauma as many have vital documents and medicines in those bags,” flyer Shekhar Roy wrote on X (formerly Twitter). An IndiGo source told reporters that the bags were left behind due to “operational reasons”. The source added, “The remaining luggage has been loaded onto the next available flight and will be delivered directly to the passengers’ home addresses.” While a query was sent to an official IndiGo spokesperson, a formal statement from the airline was still awaited till the time of going to the press.
