What your about to read is not from the Twilight Zone or a parody skit from a late night TV show. It really happened. This is an amazing story if you think about it.

It is being reported that passengers traveling from India to Britain were stranded recently in Amritsar, India, by the charter airline Comtel, which was asking them to kick in money to cover the cost of fuel and fees. Literally. It was reported that the crew told the passengers they would have to come up with 24,000 pounds ($38,000) between them. Thirty-eight-thousand-dollars.. cash… did you get that?

It appears there is footage floating around that shows a flight attendant saying, “We need some money to pay the fuel, to pay the airport, to pay everything we need. If you want to go to Birmingham, you have to pay.” The story then goes on to say that many passengers were allowed to leave the plane to get to ATM machines in Vienna to get the money!

They apparently actually raised the money and the plane took off and made it to their destination, but not without this final slap in the face comment from Bhupinder Kandra, the airline’s majority shareholder, “This is not my problem,” he said. “The problem is with the agents.”