Airports across the country, including major hubs like Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, were plunged into chaos due to massive flight cancellations and delays hitting IndiGo, India’s largest carrier. With over 1,000 flights canceled in just four days, videos of highly frustrated passengers clashing with ground staff have inundated social media platforms.
Amid the frenzy and anger, actors Sonu Sood and Vir Das have publicly appealed to the public, urging them to redirect their frustration away from the airline’s frontline employees and show kindness.
Vir Das and Sonu Sood Advocate for Staff
The ongoing flight disruptions have left thousands of passengers stranded for hours. On Saturday, Vir Das took to X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that the airline’s senior management should be the ones facing the angry travelers.
“The decent thing to do? The entire senior management of IndiGo should be made to take shifts at the airport and stand there. From CEOs to VPs and such. The decision makers,” he wrote. He argued that these executives, rather than the “terrified junior employees with no power, cabin crew, and ground staff,” should be left to deal with the yelling and screaming.
The decent thing to do? The entire senior management of Indigo should be made to take shifts at the airport and stand there. From CEOs to VPs and such. The decision makers. Instead of the terrified junior employees with no power, cabin crew, and ground staff, who have been left…
— Vir Das (@thevirdas) December 6, 2025
Sonu Sood also shared a video message on social media, appealing for patience and emphasizing the helplessness of the ground staff in these situations.
“A delayed flight is frustrating, but remember the faces trying to fix it. Please be nice and humble to the IndiGo staff; they are carrying the weight of cancellations too. Let’s support them,” Sood captioned the video.
“A delayed flight is frustrating, but remember the faces trying to fix it. Please be nice and humble to the IndiGo staff; they are carrying the weight of cancellations too. Let’s support them.” @IndiGo6E pic.twitter.com/rd3ciyekcS
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) December 6, 2025
In his message, Sood acknowledged that his own family was among the thousands who endured significant delays, waiting over four to five hours for their flight. He recognized the widespread disappointment, stating, “I know a lot of meetings were cancelled, and many people could not attend important events… Everyone is hurt and frustrated.”
However, he shifted the perspective, asking passengers to imagine themselves in the place of the ground staff. “They are helpless… They only communicate the messages that they receive. So why react to them? It is our responsibility to support them during this tough time and not react because they are helpless,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, noted lyricist and writer Swanand Kirkire took a sterner view, demanding compensation from the airline, tweeting, “Sorry is not enough … pay damages.”
IndiGo’s Operational Crisis
IndiGo is currently grappling with what the airline itself has termed an “operational crisis.” The disruption peaked with well over 1,000 flight cancellations in a single day on Friday. The sudden and widespread cancellations across major operational hubs led to scenes of confusion and anger in airports nationwide.
The airline attributed the crisis to a “multitude of unforeseen operational challenges,” citing factors such as minor technical glitches, winter schedule changes, and adverse weather conditions.
IndiGo issued an apology for the inconvenience caused to passengers via social media. The statement assured customers that while the issue would not be resolved immediately, the airline would do everything possible to assist travelers and bring operations back to normal swiftly.
To mitigate the impact on passengers, IndiGo announced a “full waiver” on all cancellation and rescheduling requests for bookings made between December 5, 2025, and December 15, 2025.