Open More Phase 3 Flights to India

The Issue

The Indian Government has started opening India up for restricted international travel. That being said, the government has only allowed passage of 1,700 seats to 300 countries including (but not limited to) the United States, Canada, and the UK under Phase 3 of its Mission Vande Bharat. The seats are exclusive to Air India, and can only be booked online. With over 60 MILLION (60,000,000) Indian citizens and People of Indian Origin trying to enter the country for emergency purposes such as the death of immediate family, repatriation, and loss of livelihood and international visa, the government sanctioned Air India flights have catered to less than 1% of the Indians in the aforementioned desperate situations. Furthermore, there have been anguished complaints by hopeful travelers of terrible customer service and of the booking website crashing at every moment, making it impossible for customers who waited for several hours to even have an opportunity to catch a flight. Though the Indian government's trepidation at reopening travel is understandable, tens of millions of Indians are in agreement that such tightly restricted travel in this situation is worse than the risk of catching Covid-19 (though please note that these flights are taking appropriate safety measures to the best of their abilities). They have nowhere to go, no income, and are unable to be with their fathers and sons as they lie on their deathbeds. Please reopen international travel immediately on a much more appropriate and reasonable scale! 1,700 seats are not enough to save 60,000,000 people!

This petition had 2,565 supporters

The Issue

The Indian Government has started opening India up for restricted international travel. That being said, the government has only allowed passage of 1,700 seats to 300 countries including (but not limited to) the United States, Canada, and the UK under Phase 3 of its Mission Vande Bharat. The seats are exclusive to Air India, and can only be booked online. With over 60 MILLION (60,000,000) Indian citizens and People of Indian Origin trying to enter the country for emergency purposes such as the death of immediate family, repatriation, and loss of livelihood and international visa, the government sanctioned Air India flights have catered to less than 1% of the Indians in the aforementioned desperate situations. Furthermore, there have been anguished complaints by hopeful travelers of terrible customer service and of the booking website crashing at every moment, making it impossible for customers who waited for several hours to even have an opportunity to catch a flight. Though the Indian government's trepidation at reopening travel is understandable, tens of millions of Indians are in agreement that such tightly restricted travel in this situation is worse than the risk of catching Covid-19 (though please note that these flights are taking appropriate safety measures to the best of their abilities). They have nowhere to go, no income, and are unable to be with their fathers and sons as they lie on their deathbeds. Please reopen international travel immediately on a much more appropriate and reasonable scale! 1,700 seats are not enough to save 60,000,000 people!

Petition Closed

This petition had 2,565 supporters

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The Decision Makers

Consulate General of India
Consulate General of India
Ministry of Civil Aviation of Government of India
Ministry of Civil Aviation of Government of India
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Petition created on June 9, 2020