Ghost first, stranded passengers later

The Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that never reaches port but is condemned to sail the seas forever. Unlike that ghostly myth that reportedly originates in the annals of the 17th-century Dutch East India Co, Go First - earlier GoAir - the low-cost carrier owned by the Wadia Group, is quite flesh and blood - well, steel and aviation turbine fuel. But what many people who had booked a flight on Go First to travel from Hyderabad to Delhi experienced could well be a variation of The Flying Dutchman legend. Except it seems that there was no Flying Go First to fly. It has come to light, as quite a fright, that Guwahati-based HappyFares was responsible for making the phantasmagorical bookings.

While irrational explanations would have been the first ones sought after in our times where social media itself is really ectoplasmic ether, it turns out that it was the proverbial ghost in the machine that caused the foul ghoul of a phantom flight. Upon enquiry, it was found that Go First had changed this particular route 'due to operational reasons' - a standard euphemism used by all airlines for supernatural causes for delays, cancellations, overbookings, etc - which HappyFares unhappily did not know about. The fault, it seems, is Go First's since reportedly the flight was still being shown 'operational' on the airline's website. Spooky.