India’s largest airline by passenger volume, IndiGo, announced on Saturday morning that it was experiencing a “system slowdown” and said flyers could face longer queues at airports.

“We are currently experiencing a temporary system slowdown across our network, affecting our website and booking system. As a result, customers may face increased wait times, including slower check-ins and longer queues at the airport,” the airline posted on its X (formerly Twitter) handle in a three-post thread.

“Our airport team is available and fully dedicated to assisting everyone and ensuring a smooth journey. Be assured, we are working diligently to restore stability and normalcy as quickly as possible.

“We regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding and patience during this time,” the airline added.

Much before the airlines announced the fault in the system, flyers eager to go home or travel during the festive season had been trying to draw the attention of the airline.

“Your services are down. I'm not able to book any Indigo flight on any platform including your own,” wrote an X user who identified himself as “Middle Class Investor” around noon.

Another user Rathin Roy in a series of posts made around 11am asked: “What’s wrong with the new @IndiGo6E website? Cannot book a simple domestic ticket or pay by credit card. CEOs should be accountable to Board for customer glitches resulting in business losses due to major IT revamps, not the glorified coders posturing as C suite occupants.”

In another post, Roy wrote that a customer service executive from the airlines social media team had reached out after his post. “Following this tweet (the executive) from Indigo social media team called. Their website is not working (facing challenges she called it in SMspeak till I corrected her. IndiGo has not yet made this public.”

An hour later Roy was still struggling to book the ticket.

“IndiGo website is still malfunctioning. Still No public announcement. Indigo should waive convenience fee for bookings made in the next 48 hours as service recovery to alleviate the costs imposed on consumer because of management incompetence.This will of course not happen,” Roy wrote.

“We regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate your understanding and patience during this time,” the airline added after making the announcement after 1.30pm.