IndiGo Chaos Strands Bengaluru Woman on Sacred Journey; Faces ₹60,000 Ticket Shock

December 5, 2025 — A massive wave of flight cancellations and delays across the country has left thousands of air travellers stranded, but the plight of one Bengaluru woman has highlighted the immense human cost of the current aviation chaos.

Namita, who was scheduled to fly from Bengaluru to Haridwar via Delhi for the ‘asthi visarjan’ (immersion of her father’s ashes), found her plans abruptly shattered when her IndiGo flight was cancelled without proper notice. Stranded at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), she voiced her distress, clutching the urn containing her father’s remains.

An Urgent Ritual Halted

The asthi visarjan is a deeply sacred and time-sensitive Hindu ritual. Namita’s desperate situation was worsened when, trying to find an alternative flight, she was quoted an exorbitant price. “I have my father’s asthi with me,” she tearfully told reporters, “The ritual has to be done tomorrow. But the flight was cancelled without any prior notice. They’re now asking us to book other airlines—tickets are ₹60,000 per person for a one-way trip. How can we afford that?”

Her frustration was summed up in her plea to look at other options: “Air India dekho ya koi aur (Look at Air India or any other),” she exclaimed, underscoring the sudden and dramatic surge in ticket prices on competing carriers following the IndiGo disruptions.

Systemic Failure Behind the Chaos

The root cause of this nation-wide aviation emergency, particularly impacting IndiGo—India’s largest airline with a 65% market share—is reportedly a severe pilot and crew shortage.

• Crew Constraints: IndiGo has openly attributed the chaos to operational challenges, including the recent implementation of new, stricter Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules designed to ensure adequate rest for pilots. These new regulations have intensified the already existing staffing crunch.
• Mass Cancellations: Bengaluru’s KIA alone saw over 100 IndiGo flights (arrivals and departures) cancelled on Friday, with Delhi and Mumbai reporting similar triple-digit cancellations. This unprecedented grounding has thrown the entire network into disarray.
• Fare Hike Frenzy: The sudden cancellation of hundreds of flights has led to a major demand-supply imbalance, causing airfares on other airlines to skyrocket. Reports indicate that one-way tickets on alternative carriers across various routes have doubled, and in some urgent cases like Namita’s, soared to shocking prices like ₹60,000.

For Namita and thousands of other passengers—many missing important events, medical appointments, and international connections—the airline’s explanation offers little comfort. She questioned the lack of advance communication, stating that the online status still showed her flight as on-time even as she reached the departure gate.

As authorities, including the Civil Aviation Ministry, scramble to manage the crisis and IndiGo attempts “calibrated adjustments” to its schedule, the story of Namita serves as a stark reminder of how operational failure can intersect with and severely disrupt personal, and in this case, profoundly sacred duties.