Stuck celebrities share plight after A-I fiasco

New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) The software glitch that affected 155 Air India flights on Saturday did not spare celebrities either. Many of them were left stranded at various airports in the country.

Bollywood singer Shreya Ghoshal was one of the victims who took to Instagram to share her plight. "Me and the band have been waiting since 4 a.m. to fly out to Hyderabad to perform this evening. Delay after delay from Air India has come to the situation that we can't reach Hyderabad on time to perform," she said in a video posted on Instagram.

"We didn't even have any alternate flight to make it to the Gachibowli Stadium. We are very sorry. This has happened for the first time in so many years of doing concerts. We are working on rescheduling this concert for you all. Thank you for understanding," Ghoshal said.

The trouble started after Air India's passenger system server, operated by global airline IT major SITA, was affected due to a glitch during scheduled maintenance early Saturday.

At Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, ranked among the busiest airports in the world, thousands of passengers were stranded and many flights were affected.

Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri of "The Tashkent Files" fame was also stuck in Mumbai on his way to Lucknow. "Air India server crashed since 3.30 a.m. All flights cancelled. Thousands of passengers stranded at the airport. Nobody knows what is happening. Don't go to the airport without confirming. I am also going back after spending couple of hours," he tweeted.

Singer Kasturi Shankar who has recorded film songs in Malayalam and Tulu, and many non-film songs in Konkani, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Hindi, was also stranded. "My very first flight on #airindia was 24 hrs late due to technical snag. That was 20 years ago. Since then, govts have changed, logo has changed, but standards haven't. Neither service nor server on Air India!," Shankar tweeted.