Fasten your seat belt... before boarding.

Part 1

And you always think, rather believe, air travel is hassle-free, right? Then fasten your belts, turbulence ahead…

It was a routine Tuesday morning last year at Mumbai Airport. IndiGo flight 6E 6543 was ready for takeoff to Varanasi when something unusual caught the crew’s eye. You think you have sharp eyes but they have the sharpest one. I am joking, right?

As soon as the doors were closed, aircraft had already begun taxing, reached the take-off point, and there the crew saw a man standing silently at the back of the aircraft.

He wasn’t stretching. He wasn’t looking for the restroom either. He wasn't supposed to do any of that, as the aircraft had moved from the bay. Looked like he had no seat.

And there was chaos. Turns out, due to a monumental boarding goof-up, a stand-by passenger was allotted a seat that belonged to a confirmed passenger.

Can you believe, passengers with boarding passes for more than the available seats?

Takeoff was halted. The flight returned to the bay. The man probably was wondering if he was about to fly like a yogic Superman, but was politely deboarded. IndiGo must have issued a textbook apology:

“We regret the inconvenience. Processes will be strengthened.”

I don't know what does it actually mean. Does that mean, next time we may have a foldable extra seat?

But this wasn’t a lone misadventure. Turns out the man in question had unintentionally joined a global fraternity of misplaced flyers.

You would be saying, c'mon man what global fraternity of misplaced flyers, I am talking about.

Then, here are those 'few' honorary members of that Global Fraternity:

A decade and a half back, the door of Indian Airlines flight IC -179 from Mumbai to Mangalore got damaged. What followed was all the 172 passengers were off-loaded and taken into another flight to the destination. Curiously, instead of 172, 175 passengers boarded that flight and those three extra passengers were accommodated - one in the cockpit, and two others on the foldable seats of the crew.

Fasten your seat belts, guys. The passenger in the cockpit didn't help the pilot to navigate the journey.

Then in 2022, a passenger boarded a British Airways flight to Frankfurt, fell asleep and woke up in Lagos instead of Frankfurt. Was that his dream destination or was he a 'Nigerian high official in disguise' on a secret mission. My guess is as good as yours.

Probably, he learnt the trick of falling asleep on the fight from our friend Ravi Chacko (name changed). Who is Ravi Chacko?

Well, some years back, in a Trivandrum–Mumbai–Dubai late-night international flight, Ravi Chacko slept through his Mumbai exit, only to wake up in Dubai without a passport or visa. Immigration there returned him like Amazon on a bad delivery day. No shopping. No prison diaries to write.

When he landed back in Mumbai, many sleep- deprived group of lawyers and executives asked him what is the secret of snatching a sound sleep on a flight. Some asked him if he had some gold to spare!

Now this one is a classic case.

Not so long ago, when this airline, Go Air, was operational, its Bengaluru to Delhi morning flight took off, leaving behind a bus load of 50 passengers still on the tarmac. Go, Go, Gone. Relax. The airline has been liquidated. No encore, no applause.

Imagine if our Tuesday Man from Mumbai - that IndiGo passenger - hadn’t been spotted before takeoff; would he have hidden in the toilet like a sky-fugitive? Would he have clung to the tea trolley? Or would the pilot have just shrugged, saying, “Well, we’re all passengers on this journey called life…”

Guys, in today’s skies, it isn't enough to just arrive early, count your seat, confirm your name, and triple-check your boarding pass. You never know when you’ll be promoted from confirmed to “standing-room only.” Or even deboarded. But once the flight is airborne, you stand a good chance to be either in the cockpit or sitting next to an air hostess.

Now, it's musical chairs at 35,000 feet.

I know what you are saying, " Sure, the crew have sharpest eyes and brains."

Forget the crew, you are a sharp reader. So Like this post and comment. A new episode is going to be released soon. Coke and Popcorn on the house!