Couple attends own wedding reception online due to IndiGo flight cancellations

‘IndiGo standard time’ – if you fly with the budget airline frequently, then you are familiar with this phrase. Must also be acquainted with the fact that they always get you to your destination before time, or so they claim. But now, as the airline is facing massive operational drawbacks, thousands of passengers are stranded at airports across the country due to cancellations. This has led to a couple attending their own wedding reception online. The hall was booked; guests had arrived, but the couple to be celebrated couldn’t make it to the venue.

Though they were being streamed online as the couple could not make it to Hubbali in Karnataka from Bhubaneswar in Odisha, as the bride interacted with her friends and family, she apologised. “Our flight was cancelled, and we did not get any other flight. We are extremely apologetic for not making it.” The Internet is surely a boon in this case; also, this may be a different kind of reception where the bride and groom, the stars of the evening, were missing from the scene.

Internet reacts…

Netizens had a field day and couldn't keep calm, one X user Gaurav Sharma, wrote, “Parents turned the hall into a live theater.....laptop on stage, newlyweds on big screen. Full desi jugaad.”

Another named Kamlesh Kumar wrote, “And honestly, this is the perfect professional lesson too. In life and in tax practice — plans fail, systems crash, deadlines shift. But adaptability is everything.”

For some it was unlocking a new fear. “New fear unlocked - Not being able to attend your own reception due to flight delays and cancellations!” Nisha Anandani wrote.

The IndiGo saga

Airports across India have Indigo airline passengers frustrated due to delays and cancellations. Over a thousand flights have been cancelled. For now, the airline says it is due to changes in FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations), which DGCA had revised in January 2024 and was to be implemented in a phased manner; that’s the very bug that bit the system and has caused the disruptions. Passengers have been stranded at airports for hours; those planning to get to the airport have been receiving rescheduling notifications.

When it comes to FDTL updates, the airline has been highlighting that pilots need rest, and so these implementations are important and necessary. During the implementation period, the airline brought in additional dispensation to the revised FDTL norms; as a result, it also increased flights in the winter schedule. These cancellations may not be entirely due to the revised standards.