Delta102

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Passengers on a British Airways flight from New Delhi to London faced a 13-hour delay as the pilot felt he was too sleepy after a noisy night in a New Delhi hotel, newspapers reported on Monday.

Angry passengers were offloaded from the plane early Sunday morning after the pilot refused to fly until he caught up with his sleep.

"The crew hadn't had enough rest...the entire crew had a disturbed night," Radhika Raikhy, spokeswoman for BA, was quoted in the Hindustan Times as saying, adding the airline's safety rules do not allow its crew to operate in such conditions.

The Times of India said the flight and cabin crew complained of not getting enough rest as their hotel was too noisy.

The flight, BA 142, finally took off 13 hours later to the fury of passengers who were sent to city hotels to wait out the delay as the crew rested, newspapers reported.

"It was very chaotic," said Sunil Thapar, a passenger.

"Due to a shortage of rooms, some people, including me, had to share rooms with strangers," he was quoted in The Times of India as saying

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddly...7?feedType=RSS

blastboy

Didn't something like this happen with Delta back in '98 from ATL-NRT? They landed in PDX b/c they said they were too tired to go on. If I were a passenger, I'd be applauding the pilots for being responsible enough to take action in lieu of their physical limitations to fly the plane. It would take some guts to get on the PA and tell the passengers that you can't fly because you're too sleepy but it's better than being macho about it and putting yourself and everyone else at risk. I love how the passengers think this situation was chaotic. <laughing out loud> They need a wakeup call. Imagine the chaos if the crew tookoff sleepy and crashed?

vagabond

I think that when the passenger said it was chaotic, he was referring to the hotel situation and having to share a room with total strangers. The article was a bit short on context.

blastboy

<laughing out loud> I know, I know...All I'm saying is that it could have been far worse than sharing a room with a stranger.

aero550

I wonder if there is more to this. Like the crew taking some kind of stand on some issue.

Oh well, more job security for me and my corporate brethren and sisteren (is that a word?).

reCALcitrant

Yea, I guess you guys fly New York-Delhi non-stop with 250 people.

aero550

No, but it only takes one or two of those 250 people to decide they've had enough of the airline BS to provide me with a job.

GauleyPilot

Hey guys, no need to be uncivil. Wether they be packed into the back of a 777 or roaming the back of a G550, you both know that sometimes you just can't please the pax nomatter what you do.

oldveedubs

Passengers want low fares and to be home...and of course pilots who don't curse on their cell phones.

But literally, they could care less about safety until something goes wrong.

How often does the FA stand up there with a seat belt in his/her hand to only be dozed out by ipod wearing passengers?

blastboy

Those morons. Wait till the airplane starts breaking apart, then worry.