The university student narrowly missed her flight, which in retrospect proved to be a blessing, arriving just a few minutes after boarding was supposed to start.
Bhoomi Chauhan was among the 242 passengers booked on Air India Flight 171 (AI171), which departed from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12, en route to London Gatwick. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner tragically crashed just minutes after takeoff, claiming the lives of hundreds on the ground and nearly all of the passengers aboard.
At the time, Chauhan was frustrated, as she arrived at the airport less than an hour before the scheduled departure, only to find that check-in had already closed. What initially seemed like a travel nightmare turned out to be a twist of fate that saved her life.
Woman missed doomed flight by minutes after getting stuck in traffic
“I was upset [after being denied boarding] and reached the airport exit when I learnt the plane had crashed,” Bhoomi Chauhan said pic.twitter.com/vmtdMThNbd
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 13, 2025
Chauhan’s car had been stuck in heavy traffic while traveling through the heart of the city. She had been traveling from Ankleshwar, about 200 kilometers south of Ahmedabad. She reached the airport at 12:20 p.m., just ten minutes after boarding was supposed to begin.
Although she had an economy boarding pass for seat 36G and had checked in online, she was not allowed to complete the check-in process at the airport.
Chauhan recalled pleading with airline staff to let her board, explaining that she was only ten minutes late and might be the last person to board. However, they refused to allow her on the flight.
“We got very angry with our driver and left the airport in frustration. I was very disappointed,” she said. Chauhan, who had been on vacation in western India, was returning home to the UK, where she lives with her husband and is studying business administration.
“When I missed the flight, I was dejected. The only thing I kept thinking was, ‘If I had started a little earlier, I would have boarded the plane,’” she recalled.
After being turned away at the airport, Chauhan and her companions decided to stop for tea nearby. While there, they began discussing how to secure a refund for their missed ticket with their travel agent. It was during this conversation that they first learned about the crash.
The full weight of what she had narrowly avoided sank in. “This is totally a miracle for me,” she said. Flight AI171 had taken off shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time, and just five minutes later, it went down, leaving behind a trail of devastation.