Games exec loses baggage at IGI

Six business class passengers, the pilot and the co-pilot of an Air India flight from Bangkok had a harrowing time at the IGI Airport on Sunday after their baggage went missing. Their baggage was finally traced to the transfer area, but not before the harried passengers spent about four anxious hours waiting for their baggage to come.

Air India flight 854 landed in Delhi at 11:30am and the lost baggage was found only around 3pm. Among the passengers was an Australian national, John Lade, who is a private consultant to the Commonwealth Games. Speaking to Times City, Lade — who has been coming to Delhi regularly for the past seven months to help with the Commonwealth Games preparations — admitted that the delay in getting luggage had been frustrating but it was a common problem in many airports.

‘‘We are not sure exactly what went wrong, but it took a long time for the baggage to arrive. The baggage was eventually found in the make up/transfer area a few hours later. There were also some problems at the immigration gate and we had to wait for about 30 minutes before getting clearance. Initially, when the baggage went missing, there was some confusion as there seemed to be no representative from the airline. When they finally came, the issue was resolved quickly,’’ he said.

The other affected passengers, however, were not as forgiving. ‘‘It was total mismanagement. All the luggage with priority tags went missing and there was no one from the airline for a long time. We kept pacing up and down asking for information but everyone at the airport seemed clueless. At the Indian Airlines help desk, the staff said they were not in a position to help as it was an Air India flight and they were from Indian Airlines,’’ said Rajan Bakshi, an affected passenger.

Anil Verman, another passenger whose baggage got misplaced, said: ‘‘It took about half-an-hour for the immigration gates to open and then our baggage went missing. There is total chaos at the new terminal.’’ Air India officials said that they could deliver the baggage only after 40 minutes due to technical hiccups.