Couple Forced to Attend Their Wedding Virtually After Last-Minute Flight Cancellation

A couple from Bengaluru, India, missed their own wedding due to an unexpected flight cancellation.

Medha Ksheerasagar and Sangama Das, who are both software engineers, were forced to join their wedding reception virtually after their flight from Bhubaneswar to Hubballi was repeatedly delayed and then cancelled altogether, according to the Times of India.

The couple, who were married on Nov. 23, had planned a grand reception at Gujarat Bhavan in Hubballi on Dec. 3, per the outlet.

While relatives from both sides were gradually arriving at the venue, staff at IndiGo — India’s largest low-cost airline — allegedly kept informing the couple that the flight was delayed,” beginning around 9 a.m. local time on Dec. 2. By the next morning, their flight had been completely cancelled.

“The flight was continuously shown as delayed throughout the day,” the bride’s father, Anil Kumar, told the Times of India. “Only at around 6 to 8 p.m. did they finally announce it was cancelled.”

So, Ksheerasagar and Das were left with no choice but to attend their own wedding virtually. While the bride’s father set up a large screen at the venue so that the couple could interact with their guests, the newlyweds dressed up to celebrate their marriage from afar.

“If IndiGo had informed us earlier, we could have made other arrangements,” Kumar noted. “Because they did not provide timely information, the reception had to be held online.”

According to Reuters, Ksheerasagar and Das weren’t the only ones left stranded after IndiGo cancelled their flight. As part of what has become the biggest crisis ever for the 20-year-old airline, 385 IndiGo flights were cancelled on Dec. 6, and more than 1,000 flights were cancelled the day before.

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As for why the airports are experiencing such turmoil? According to The New York Times, IndiGo claimed that “a multitude of unforeseen operational challenges,” including weather and technological glitches, were behind the delays and cancellations. The airline also said that new rules requiring more rest time for pilots and flight crew were affecting scheduling.

However, the Federation of Indian Pilots argued that those rules were announced nearly two years ago. “All other airlines have provisioned pilots adequately and remain largely unaffected,” the union said in a statement to The New York Times, adding that the cancellations were “the direct consequence of IndiGo’s prolonged and unorthodox lean manpower strategy.”

On Dec. 6, the airline addressed the disruptions on social media and ensured that all cancellations would be met with refunds and accommodations.

“We had cancelled a significant number of flights and operated little above 700 flights yesterday connecting 113 destinations,” the airline wrote in a statement. “The main objective was to reboot the network, systems and rosters so that we could start afresh today with a higher number of flights, improved stability, and there are some early signs of improvement.”

“While we understand that we have a long way to go, we are committed to building back the trust of our customers,” the statement continued. “We apologise once again.”