An Air India flight between Delhi and London had to return to its point of origin this morning after inappropriate behavior of a passenger forced the pilots to turn back. Unruly passenger behavior on Indian airlines or India-bound flights seems to be on the rise, or at least is being increasingly reported. The latest incident is one of many that have taken place this year alone.

Delhi-London flight returns

Air India flight AI111 is a daily scheduled morning service between New Delhi (DEL) and London Heathrow (LHR). On April 10th, the Boeing 787 took off at 06:52 for its eight-and-a-half-hour journey to London. But the plane had not even crossed Pakistan when it turned back towards Delhi.

The reason behind this was a disruptive passenger whose unruly behavior was deemed extreme enough for pilots to cut short the journey. Air India said that the verbal fight escalated to the passenger physically assaulting members of the cabin crew. The airline stated,

“Air India flight AI 111 scheduled to operate Delhi-London today returned to Delhi shortly after departure due to the serious unruly behaviour of a passenger on board.

"Not heeding to verbal and written warnings, the passenger continued with unruly behaviour including causing physical harm to two of the cabin crew members. The pilot in command decided to return to Delhi and the passenger was handed over to the security personnel upon landing. An FIR has also been lodged with the police.”

After the unruly passenger was offloaded and handed over to authorities, the plane, carrying more than 220 passengers, departed for London again in the morning.

Air India Boeing 787
Photo: Media_works I Shutterstock

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Stern action

This was not an isolated incident. Indian airlines have reported several similar instances of passengers misbehaving this year. In January, a female passenger on a Vistara Abu Dhabi-Mumbai flight had to be restrained after she assaulted a cabin crew member and spat on the other.

The list of these incidents is quite long, but the one that shocked the most came to light at the beginning of this year when an Air India business class passenger urinated on another passenger on a New York-Delhi flight.

Air India was criticized for how it handled the situation and was penalized by the Indian aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The DGCA has been quite strict lately amid a rise of such cases and has even asked airlines to take stern action.

Air India Boeing 777-300ER
Photo: Wirestock Creators | Shutterstock

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Air India even revised its alcohol-serving policy recently to curb such incidents, with the new guidelines stating that passengers can only be served two alcoholic beverages on flights less than four hours, and for longer flights, additional drinks can be offered for every extra hour. It also mentions that “the crew should exercise their discretion in the continuous service of liquor to these passengers.”

It has been quite a challenging year for Indian airlines and flight crew as far as inappropriate passenger behavior is concerned, and we’re only still in the fourth month. Hopefully, strict action will discourage travelers from misbehaving mid-air.

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  • Air India Tile
    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