(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

For three days, Air India Express passengers arriving in Lucknow from Dubai have anxiously shuttled between home and the airport, looking for news about luggage reportedly left behind in Dubai.

Among them is SK, who flew in from Dubai on Monday (November 3) to attend a cousin's wedding. He says he landed at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport wearing just a tracksuit - and that's all he still has. "My sherwani, shoes, and gifts were in my checked bag,” he told Khaleej Times.“I've been coming to the airport every day for three days, they just keep saying - 'maybe tomorrow'. How do I attend a wedding like this?”

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Flight IX-198 from Dubai touched down in Lucknow around 4.30am on November 3. But instead of their belongings, passengers were greeted by bags from a previous flight, IX-194. Airline staff reportedly told them that their luggage“missed the load” in Dubai and would arrive within 12 hours.

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That promise never materialised. By Tuesday, hundreds of anxious passengers, some from as far as Azamgarh and Kanpur, had made repeated trips to the airport, hoping for a resolution.

“We were given a customer care number, but even after 50 calls, nobody answered,” said another passenger, as cited in a report in the local daily Dainik Jagran. "Air India Express is not taking ownership.”

Khaleej Times has reached out to Air India Express for a comment. A response was not received at the time of publication.

Several travellers took to the social media platform X to voice their anger and tag aviation authorities.

Ameer Zada Khurram posted:“I was travelling from Dubai to Lucknow with Air India Express flight IX 194. Didn't receive my luggage, which was supposed to arrive today, but it hasn't. I have plans and events to attend. This is very disappointing.”

Another user, Zafaryab Khan, wrote: "Today, my brother came to Lucknow by Air India Express flight IX198, but his luggage was not found. He was told it would come by another flight, but till now neither the luggage has arrived nor has anyone picked up the phone.”

Lucknow airport officials reportedly confirmed that nearly 200 passengers were affected.

Many said they were told that the bags had been offloaded in Dubai for“operational reasons. "Even after three days, there's no clarity,” one traveller said.“Some of us have weddings, others business events, everything we need is in those bags.”

This comes weeks after another Dubai-origin flight made headlines for a similar incident. On October 8, a SpiceJet service from Dubai to Delhi landed without a single piece of checked baggage, leaving the entire flight's passengers staring at an empty conveyor belt at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

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