Who is right? Rule-bound Maharaja or commoner? You decide

Angry with Air India for denying entry into aircraft for coming late, passengers post video clip on the airport drama

GN Bureau | February 17, 2015


#Air India   #Air India video   #air india passenger   #air india flight  

Even with his eternal bow the Maharaja is standing firm on certain issues. However, some do not like and others accept grudgingly.

Air India staff; under pressure from the management to maintain discipline in timely departures and arrivals have been denying late coming passengers the privilege of boarding an aircraft.

Other day it was a VIP who tasted the AI’s strict adherence to rules. The airliner closed the aircraft door on member of parliament and former minister Veerappa Moily at Bengaluru airport as he reached late. He seemed to have taken the treatment with dignity.

However, some passengers, who were denied aircraft entry for coming late by five minutes, were not so charitable. A video is trending on social media that shows a kind of exchange of words between the AI staff members and the harried passengers at Mumbai airport.

Shivendra Namdeo who has uploaded the video on Facebook has alleged that his fellow passengers were not allowed to board the flight at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, even though they reached well on time. The staff refused to attend the passengers with valid tickets because they had reached 55 minutes before the flight departure instead of 60 minutes as per these staff members.

Air India's SMS sent to the mobile numbers of the passengers informed them to arrive only 45 minutes before departure, Namdeo wrote on Facebook as he uploaded the video.

The message may have been sent by a third party from where the tickets were booked.

The video already has 7,35,451 views and 31,000 shares on Facebook. It was also trending on Youtube with more than 33,000 views and several comments.

In this video, a group of passengers are repeatedly requesting the Air India staff to board the flight, while on the other hand airline staff are being argumentative citing the rules. One woman is seen crying and begging the staff to let her board the flight to which an official replied, "Please control yourself." It is being reported that one of the passenger’s mother was in ICU.

“Nothing is free boss. If you are late, you lose the ticket,” an official says in the video.

“Air India is known for addressing customer grievances promptly, The Logical Indian expects the Indian Airways giant to come out with an explanation for this incident as well,” writes Abhijit Patil who uploaded the video on Youtube.

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