An IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Varanasi had to return to the aerobridge at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Tuesday because the crew discovered an overbooked passenger just before takeoff.

The incident occurred around 7:50 am when a crew member noticed a male passenger standing at the rear of the aircraft as flight 6E 6543 was taxiing.

It was then that the crew alerted the pilot, and the flight had to return to the terminal, according to Sandeep Pandey, one of the passengers.

Airlines typically overbook flights to minimize the chances of a flight departing with empty seats.

Another passenger, Akhilesh Chaubey, who was heading to Varanasi on a work trip, mentioned that the flight returned to the bay and the passenger was offloaded. “The airline then checked the cabin baggage of all passengers on board before proceeding with the take-off after a delay of at least an hour,” he said. According to the flight tracking website Flightradar24, the aircraft took off at 8:41 am.

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An airline spokesperson explained that there was an error during the passenger boarding process of flight 6E 6543 from Mumbai to Varanasi. A standby passenger was mistakenly assigned a seat that was reserved for a confirmed passenger. The mistake was noticed before the aircraft departed, and the standby passenger was de-boarded. As a result, there was a slight delay in the departure of the aircraft.

IndiGo will implement all necessary measures to enhance its operational processes and apologizes for the inconvenience caused to customers.

The aviation regulator has been issuing penalties to airlines for denying boarding to passengers with valid tickets.

According to the DGCA’s civil aviation regulations introduced in 2016, airlines are not required to compensate passengers if an alternative flight is provided within an hour of the scheduled departure.

However, if the airline arranges an alternative flight within 24 hours of the boarding denial, it must compensate the passenger with 200% of the booked one-way basic fare plus the airline fuel charge, up to a maximum of ₹10,000.

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