On February 6, 2023, Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej created history by becoming the only Indian to win three Grammy Awards. Back in October 2022, Ricky shared a horrifying experience on Twitter of being stranded in Turkey for over 30 hours after a Frankfurt-Bengaluru Lufthansa flight made an emergency landing at Istanbul International Airport. A passenger on board the plane suffered a medical emergency, after which the plane was diverted to Turkey. While the flight was supposed to take off after disembarking the said passenger and completing some technical procedures, all the passengers were stranded at Istanbul International Airport for more than 31 hours.
In addition, the flight’s passengers had complained of the crew’s poor efforts to support them. Among the passengers was India’s Grammy-winning music director Ricky Kej. He tweeted about being stuck at the airport on the afternoon of October 19, 2022. Little did he know, he would be stuck for more than 30 hours.
can’t believe how @lufthansa Takes Indian customers for granted. My Frankfurt-Blair flight landed in Istanbul yesterday at 7 pm for a medical emergency. 17 hours later – no hotel, no staff, no explanation, 300 passengers stranded, no information. @AmbAckermann @germancg_blr— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 19, 2022
He tweeted, “Can’t believe how Lufthansa takes Indian customers for granted. My Frankfurt-Blair flight landed in Istanbul yesterday at 7pm for medical emergency. 17 hours later – no hotel, no staff, no No explanation, 300 passengers stranded, no information”
Later, he tweeted a barrage of updates about waiting at the airport in Turkey. His last tweet said, “Over 31 hours… still stranded in Istanbul. Thank you for the complete disregard of Indian passengers by Lufthansa. Still no statement or info from them. ZERO RESPONSIBILITY . Shows how much they care. Two nights now without a bed, no access to stuff, etc.”
The airline confirmed that the emergency landing was caused by a patient who had a medical condition. Also, it said in a statement, “For safety reasons, oxygen cylinders used to treat medical emergencies must be replaced before flight can continue. Unfortunately, it (took) longer than originally expected. Flight continuation from Istanbul to Bangalore is now scheduled for Wednesday (19 October) at 8 pm local time. Lufthansa deeply regrets the circumstances and is doing everything it can to minimize the inconvenience for its passengers.”