• 

  Air India

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  AI/AIC

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1946

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  CEO:

  Campbell Wilson

  Country:

  India

  Region:

  Asia

A recent Air India flight to London turned into a traumatic experience for one of the cabin crew members when an inebriated passenger physically assaulted him. The passenger and his friends were reportedly drinking from their own bottle of alcohol, and things escalated when the cabin crew objected to that.

Chaos at 35,000 feet

Cabin crew members often have to deal with several passenger demands, ranging from changing seats to issues with in-flight meals. While most of the time, the issues are resolved politely and with civility, there are times when passengers decide to take the law into their own hands and make it an unpleasant experience not just for the airline crew but fellow passengers as well.

On a recent Air India flight between Delhi and London, an argument erupted between a male flight attendant and a group of passengers who were not following alcohol-related guidelines of the carrier. The fight escalated to the point that one of the passengers in the group ended up physically harming the cabin crew member, leaving him with a bloodied face.

Pinned to the door and thrashed

On July 7th, a group of passengers traveling in economy class of Air India flight AI 111 from Delhi to London were spotted drinking from a bottle of gin they had brought onboard. According to airline policy, passengers are not allowed to consume store-bought alcoholic beverages inside the aircraft.

When one of the flight attendants politely explained this to the traveling group, one of the passengers got up and started kicking him violently. The Times of India quotes a person familiar with the matter as saying,

“The said flight attendant, very politely, told the passenger who had the bottle that bringing your own alcohol to drink on board flight isn’t permitted. On being confronted, the passenger got up, pinned the crew to a door and began thrashing him. The unruly passenger then kicked him repeatedly, six to seven (times), hitting his chest. The flight attendant began bleeding from his ears.”

As expected, the passenger in question was handed over to the police upon landing in London, and the flight attendant was administered first aid.

Other incidents

Problems created by drunk passengers aren’t new. Flight attendants are trained to assess whether a passenger has had too much to drink and reserve the right to refuse alcohol if it comes to that.

There have been several past instances where an intoxicated passenger disrupted the flight due to unruly behavior. In May, A Doha-Bengaluru flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Mumbai airport after a drunk passenger misbehaved with a cabin crew member when she tried to stop him from drinking.

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Even though alcohol consumption is banned on domestic flights in India, there have been several cases when passengers consumed drinks at airports and created a ruckus in the air. In 2016, Indian airlines even went as far as to request authorities to make airports in the country an alcohol-free zone.

Have you ever encountered an unruly passenger on your flight? Let us know in the comment section below.

Source: The Times of India