‘Traffic Saved My Life’: Student Misses Doomed Air India Flight by Just 10 Minutes

Bhoomi Chauhan will never forget the mix of anger and frustration she felt that day. Caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on her way to Ahmedabad airport, her car journey was so delayed that she arrived just 10 minutes too late to board her Air India flight to London Gatwick.

Chauhan, a 28-year-old business administration student based in Bristol, had been visiting western India on holiday with her husband. She was scheduled to return home on Flight AI171 this past Thursday — the same flight that tragically crashed shortly after take-off, killing 241 passengers and crew and causing additional fatalities on the ground.

After reaching the airport less than an hour before departure, Chauhan says airline staff refused to let her board.

“We were so angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration,” she recalls. “I was very disappointed.”

After leaving the terminal, Chauhan and her husband stopped nearby for tea while discussing a refund with their travel agent.
“It was then that I got the call — the plane had crashed,” she says.
“For me, this is nothing short of a miracle.”

In an interview with the BBC’s Gujarati service, Chauhan shared that she arrived at the airport at 12:20 pm local time — just 10 minutes after boarding had been scheduled to begin. Her digital boarding pass, reviewed by BBC News, showed an assigned economy seat: 36G.

Although she had checked in online, Chauhan says staff at the airport refused to complete the boarding process.

Her journey to the airport had started from Ankleshwar, a town about 201km (125 miles) south of Ahmedabad, but heavy city traffic caused the crucial delay.

“When I missed the flight, I was heartbroken,” she says. “All I could think was, ‘If only we had started earlier, I would have boarded that plane.’”
“I pleaded with the airline staff to let me through. I told them I was just 10 minutes late and the last passenger — but they refused to allow me to board.”

The ill-fated flight took off as scheduled on Thursday afternoon, but struggled to gain altitude and crashed approximately 30 seconds after take-off.

The aircraft struck a residential neighborhood, killing all 241 passengers and 12 crew members. At least eight fatalities have also been confirmed among those on the ground.

One passenger, British national Vishwashkumar Ramesh, miraculously survived the crash and is recovering in hospital. Indian, Portuguese, and Canadian nationals were also among those on board.