The whole point of technology, one might say, is to make our lives easier, faster and smoother. The fast-tag system for road travellers is to help fast-track the process of toll collection. The purpose of DigiYatra is to give flyers a paperless and seamless ticketing experience. So, when this “seamless” system crashed at Kolkata Airport, it left passengers waiting in line for 11 hours.
Passengers At Kolkata Airport Face 11-Hour Wait Time After DigiYatra App Crashes
Passengers travelling through Kolkata, Pune and Vizag airports were left helpless when the paperless DigiYtara system crashed. Travellers were unable to use the system’s facial recognition system and the paperless ticketing services for close to 11 hours, reported Times Of India.
The app seamlessly exchanges digital information of flyers between DigiYatra Foundation and the airline. Reportedly, the airline that carries the passengers, in this case, IndiGo. This digital collapse early in the day resulted in longer than usual queues.
Information from the IndiGo cloud began to flow to DigiYatra eventually, when the system was restored at around 4:30 PM, stated the report. Incidentally, IndiGo Airline had also encountered a pan India system snag that led to flight delays of 30 minutes to an hour, stated Times Of India.
The airline snag happened on August 5 and forced the airline’s ground staff to use manual methods, which led to delays. As per the report, this was DigiYatra’s first technical snag since the facility was introduced back in April 2023.
Also Read: Passengers At Delhi Airport Can Now Use ‘DigiYatra’ Without Downloading The App!
Has This Happened Before?
A network issue that had been encountered during the trial and error phase of the facility, was flagged and resolved that time itself, states the report. But, the cause for this time’s breakdown in the data exchange process is been reported to be known in the coming days. This chaos led to queues of frustrated travellers who faced hindrances at every step. Especially at the security check lines.
The passengers were reported complaining about how they were not allowed to proceed despite all the pre-checks. They were reported complaining that despite downloading the boarding pass from the DigiYatra app, they were denied entry. The reason allegedly given to them was that the DigiYatra tickets didn’t display flight timings.
As per the report, other airlines such as Vistara, Air India and Spicejet using the same DigiYatra facility, faced no such snag. But, their passengers were also denied from using the “hassle-free” app. The report also said that close to 20,000 passengers fly out of Kolkata airport.
More than 16,000 of these passengers have been reported to fly using IndiGo Airline. This “double-glitch” led to some very angry and frustrated passengers being made to wait for hours.
Also Read: IndiGo Flight Takes Off From Bangalore Without 6 Passengers; Offers Them Free Tickets!
Have you ever faced any difficulty while using the DigiYatra App?
Cover image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Representative Image)