Passengers fume as sleepy BA crew delays flight

NEW DELHI, April 16 (Reuters) - Passengers on a British Airways flight from New Delhi to London faced a 13-hour delay as the pilot felt he was too sleepy after a noisy night in a New Delhi hotel, newspapers reported on Monday.

Angry passengers were offloaded from the plane early Sunday morning after the pilot refused to fly until he caught up with his sleep.

"The crew hadn't had enough rest...the entire crew had a disturbed night," Radhika Raikhy, spokeswoman for BA, was quoted in the Hindustan Times as saying, adding the airline's safety rules do not allow its crew to operate in such conditions.

The Times of India said the flight and cabin crew complained of not getting enough rest as their hotel was too noisy.

The flight, BA 142, finally took off 13 hours later to the fury of passengers who were sent to city hotels to wait out the delay as the crew rested, newspapers reported.

"It was very chaotic," said Sunil Thapar, a passenger.

"Due to a shortage of rooms, some people, including me, had to share rooms with strangers," he was quoted in The Times of India as saying.

((Writing by Kamil Zaheer; editing by Alistair Scrutton; Reuters Messaging: kamil.zaheer.reuters.com@reuters.net; +91-11-4178 1000)) Keywords: INDIA FLIGHT/SLEEP

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