29 passengers in India miss Scoot flight to Singapore that departed earlier than original schedule

SINGAPORE  —  A Scoot flight that was headed towards Singapore from Amritsar, India, on Wednesday (Jan 18) departed four hours earlier, leaving 29 passengers behind.

Scoot said in reply to TODAY’s queries on Thursday that due to "inclement weather conditions affecting departures", the flight was rescheduled to depart the Amritsar airport earlier at 3.45pm, instead of the original departure timing of 7.55pm, both in Amritsar’s time.

“Scoot is aware of an incident involving some passengers missing their Scoot flight, TR509, which operated from Amritsar to Singapore on Jan 18, 2023,” the airline added, saying 29 people were affected.

The subsidiary of Singapore Airlines also said that the 282 passengers who were booked for the flight were notified on Jan 15 through email or SMS, or both, where possible based on the contact details provided by the passengers.

However, an airport official told Asian News International, an Indian news agency, that a travel agent — who booked tickets for 30 people in a group — had not informed the passengers about the change in flight timings and the plane flew with the passengers who had reported on time.

Scoot, apologising for the inconvenience caused, told TODAY: “We are currently working to provide affected customers with either a refund or rebooking on other available flights.”

India’s news outlet NDTV reported that the incident “triggered chaos” at the Amritsar airport with angry passengers who were left behind staging a protest and registering their complaint with the relevant authorities. 

NDTV also reported that India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered a probe into the incident.

In a separate incident on Jan 9, a Go First flight bound for Delhi took off from Bengaluru airport without 55 passengers who were still on their way to the plane via a shuttle bus.

The budget airline later apologised for the “inadvertent oversight” and said the affected passengers had been accommodated on alternate flights.