IndiGo has not been having much of a good time going anywhere these days. The fiasco that started just a few days into December 2025, where massive cancellations and delayed flights across the country saw thousands of travellers stranded, extremely angry and stressed, is still going on.
IndiGo officials, of course, have released apologies for this ‘inconvenience’ and offered refunds and rescheduling options, but the people are incredibly pissed, as is warranted.
Already being considered one of the worst airline meltdowns in Indian history, it has sparked questions around responsibility, compensation, and regulatory oversight.
But, amid this chaos, one passenger’s social-media post brought to light what the airline offered as “apology tokens” after a nine-hour delay.
The modest contents of a small blue bag sparked widespread embarrassment and fury, highlighting how far expectations and reality diverged.
What Did The Flyer Expose?
A video shared by a user on Instagram (@babyaaira.gaurav) captured the aftermath of a nine-hour delay. The user revealed that their IndiGo flight was delayed by nine hours, and the airline offered a small blue “apology” bag in response.
In the first post, the user captioned the video stating, “flight 9 hrs delay ker deya aur ye pakda ke sorry for inconvenience bol deya (they delayed the flight by 9 hours and then just handed us this, saying ‘sorry for the inconvenience.)”
In the unboxing video posted the next day, the user revealed what the bag reportedly contained. It included:
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A small packet of gourmet popcorn,
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Methi mathri (a type of Indian snack),
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A pouch of mixed fruit juice,
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A “Samsung card”
View this post on Instagram
The reveal triggered a wave of outrage and ridicule online. Many users condemned the gesture as deeply inadequate — a symbolic token when better compensation or concrete support was clearly warranted. As one social-media user put it, the popcorn bag looked like an “insult” rather than an apology.
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One comment under the video read sarcastically, “Popcorn = 9 hours delay,” capturing the sentiment of disbelief at IndiGo’s attempt at damage control with what seemed like mere snacks.
Another wrote, “It’s not as an apology. It’s a meal for you to eat while you are waiting. We got it even when our flight was delayed by 1.5 hours last year,” while a third added, “Lucky you. We got only cold drink after asking.”
Multiple posts, comment threads, and shares underscored a broader frustration: for many, the small bag was not an apology but a dismissal of the real inconvenience suffered, long waits, missed plans, uncertainty, and emotional and financial stress.
Many of the users mocked IndiGo, with one writing, “That is the way of saying ‘we screwed up… now eat popcorn and shut up’,“ and another commenting, “Therapy ke kharche nahi dengay kya?”
The IndiGo Fiasco
The root of the disruption lies in a sharp drop in operational performance across IndiGo’s network. As per recent reports, the airline’s on-time performance collapsed to 8.5%, down from a more usual 35%.
The reason for all this debacle is that the new pilot duty regulations introduced by the regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), implement stricter norms on flight-duty time limits (FDTL). IndiGo reportedly failed to anticipate the need for larger crew rosters and adequate scheduling under these new rules.
With insufficient pilots and crews, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed, leading to thousands of passengers being stranded at airports, facing repeated travel disruptions. The crisis extended over several days.
As part of remedial measures, IndiGo announced that for all cancellations between December 5 and December 15, 2025, it would offer automatic full refunds to affected passengers and waive all cancellation or rescheduling fees.
IndiGo, since last week, has cancelled hundreds of flights. According to reports, on December 7, out of its scheduled 2,300 domestic and international flights, the airline only operated around 1,650, while 650 flights were cancelled. Several states were hit with major airports seeing cancellations: Hyderabad saw 115 cancelled flights, Mumbai at 112, Delhi had 109, 38 in Chennai and more.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has also confirmed that the airline credited ₹610 crore in refunds and 3,000 pieces of delayed baggage were delivered to passengers.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: NDTV, Hindustan Times, Telegraph India
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: indigo, IndiGo news, IndiGo flight status, IndiGo flight delay, IndiGo flight, IndiGo customer care, IndiGo flight delay compensation, IndiGo passengers, india aviation system, IndiGo goodie bag
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