London bound passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight, VS 301, had to spend over eight hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday after the airlines staff said the flight could not take off due to technical problems. Being made to wait for two hours inside the aircraft, passengers alleged harassment and lack of information from the airlines’ staff, who they said had no information on the status of things.

The flight, which was scheduled to take off from the IGI Airport at 1.15 pm, was delayed initially by two hours. “After three hours we were told there will be another 10-minute delay as the aircraft had developed a technical problem,” said a passenger.

The passengers said they were made to board the flight at 5 pm, but it never took off. They were asked to disembark the plane at 7.30 pm and were at the airport till 9.30 pm.

“There are children and elderly in the flight. The elders travelling alone are finding it hard to cope with such a situation. No refreshments have been provided to us, we have now been at the airport for over eight hours,” said Hussain Ozyurtcu, an NRI passenger who was in India for a friend’s wedding.

When contacted, a Virgin Atlantic official at the airport said the flight had to be cancelled because of technical problems. “All senior officials are holding talks with the passengers and taking down details. Decision on shifting the passengers to hotels or waiting for another flight would take time,” the official said.