A senior executive of a company was offloaded from a London-bound Air India flight, after her misbehaviour with cabin crew. The captain decided to offload the passenger to avoid any inconvenience to other passengers. The flight got delayed by about an hour due to this fiasco.
The incident happened onboard an Air INdia flight (Picture for representation. Credit: ‘X’)
New Delhi: In probably the first such incident reported in the country, a senior executive of a renowned company was offloaded from an Air India flight, for misbehaving with the cabin crew. The flight AI-161 was going from Delhi to London.
Crew informed captain about misbehaviour
According to reports, the CEO and MD of a renowned company was travelling in business class on the plane. She started misbehaving with the crew, when the flight was taxing on the runway. After multiple attempts by the crew members to calm her down, the captain was informed about the entire fiasco.
The captain then decided to offload the executive from the plane. The incident took place on March 5. The flight was delayed for a good 1 hour following this incident, as the passengers luggage also had to be offloaded.
Air India in a statement said that the passenger was later accommodated on the next flight to London. However she had to assure the airlines that she would not cause any trouble onboard. According to the airlines, the decision to offload the passenger was taken by the captain, to avoid any possible trouble during flying.
Air India in its statement issued following the incident said, “We are aware of an incident on flight AI-161 of March 5, 2024. A passenger travelling in business class was off boarded on the advice of the Captain, following some argument with members of the crew before the scheduled push back. Air India accords top priority to the safety and security of all passengers and crew, and strictly adheres to rules governing the same. Following the off boarding, flight AI-161 departed after a delay of about an hour. The passenger who was off boarded was travelling for some compelling reasons and was accommodated on a subsequent flight following a written assurance. We regret any inconvenience caused to the other passengers due to the delay.”
The airlines’ decision to offload the passenger was probably made to avoid any untoward incident during the 9-hour long journey. Of late passengers misbehaving onboard flights has become common in India. In an incident reported from a Delhi-Goa flight, a passenger hit the captain after the flight was delayed for several hours due to foggy conditions in Delhi. This happened in January, 2024. The man was immediately offloaded and handed over to the CISF.
In another incident which took place on an international flight, in November 2023, a man relieved himself upon a woman passenger. The Air India flight was coming from New York to New Delhi. Later the man was banned from flying for 4 months. The incident had caused considerable outrage across the country.
