Chaotic scenes broke out on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Krabi, Thailand, after the pilot refused to fly because his duty hours were over on Thursday. The IndiGo flight, 6E 1085, was supposed to take off at 4:05 am but was delayed by more than three hours, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
In light of recent industry-wide scrutiny and the DGCA’s stricter enforcement of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), pilots are legally prohibited from operating a flight once they hit their hour cap; even if a pilot wanted to proceed, doing so would constitute a serious regulatory violation and safety risk.
A video is going viral across the social media platforms, showing passengers arguing angrily with the cabin crew inside the aircraft. The passengers claimed the pilot refused to continue because his duty time had ended.
“What about our plans that we have had?” one passenger shouted. The video also shows a passenger kicking the plane’s exit door.
New:
-Pandemonium in @IndiGo6E flight from Mumbai to Krabi
-Passengers wanted to beat pilot
-Who is said to have refused to operate flight as he was breaching his duty time & had told airline in advance
-But flight was boarded & passengers were stuck inside for 3 hours
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) January 15, 2026
IndiGo issues statement
In a statement shared on Friday, January 16, IndiGo said “two of the passengers onboard behaved inappropriately during the wait time and were declared unruly”.
The airline said the flight was delayed in Mumbai due to a “combination of reasons, including late arrival of incoming aircraft, air traffic congestion and crew exceeding their duty time limitations.”
“As per protocol, they were deboarded and handed over to the security agencies, resulting in further delays,” the statement added.
IndiGo, which saw major disruptions last month, said it provided meals and refreshments multiple times to help passengers during the wait. “We remain committed to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all and regret the inconvenience caused to our customers,” the airline said.
The flight, which was supposed to land in Krabi at 10 am, finally reached around 1 pm, according to Flightradar24.
Mixed reactions sparks debate on social media
Social media users are divided over the incident. Some say passengers should behave more decently, while others called out “sheer negligence” from DCGA.
“We have lost all sense of decorum and decency,” an X (formerly Twitter) user commented under the viral chaos video.
Another user wrote, “3 hrs sitting on the ground inside the plane can drive people insane. But abusive behavior is hardly the solution”.
A third user wrote, “Till what time must passengers endure failures like this? When will DGCA and MoCA fix the system? It is necessary at least now to look into. This is sheer negligence and take it granted by all the concerned”.
One more comment surfaced where a user wrote, “Indigo is like a bus, nothing inside, but full government support”.