Will get you arrested, pilot tells passenger seeking help
IndiGo de-rosters captain who threatened woman seeking wheelchair assistance for her mother at Bengaluru airport
15/01/2020 , Staff Reporter, CHENNAI
An IndiGo pilot, who reportedly harassed and threatened to get arrested two women passengers for seeking wheelchair assistance, has been taken off duty, pending an enquiry by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
Supriya Unni Nair, a resident of Bengaluru, had posted a harrowing account on social media of the “harassment” meted out to her and her mother late on Monday. Ms. Nair and her 75-year-old mother Vijayalakshmi had taken an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Bengaluru and sought wheelchair assistance in advance.
The ordeal began after the flight landed.
Recounting her experience, Ms. Nair said, “Our flight was late and when we landed at 9.15 p.m., I tried calling the assistance bell and when the crew did not respond, I walked up for help.”
The airline staff allegedly claimed that they didn’t have access to a wheelchair. “When I pointed this out, the captain Jayakrishna came barging out [of the cockpit] and yells at me for pressing the assistance button and annoying him and his crew,” she said in her post.
Ms. Nair said the captain then prevented the staff from bringing a wheelchair to help her mother out of the aircraft. He allegedly threatened them, saying that he would get them arrested.
“He prevents the wheelchair people from taking my mom out of the aircraft threatening us that he will ensure we are detained and spend a night in jail. Disbelievingly I ask him whether he is serious. ‘Shut up. Who do you think I am? I’ll get my CEO to make sure you spend a night in jail; we will teach you some manners, he says’,” Ms. Nair said in her post.
“We reach the bus and the captain is meanwhile ranting and stops it from moving forward,” Ms. Nair said, adding that it was the on-ground security and IndiGo staff who came to their rescue.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Nair said the entire experience was traumatic. “I felt the need to put it out on social media because this shouldn’t happen to anyone else. No one, especially, a senior citizen should have to endure what my mother did. She was nervous and shivering.”
On seeing the post, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “I requested my office to contact @IndiGo6E as soon as I saw the tweet by Ms @SupriyaUnniNair about the pilot’s behaviour.... The airline has informed @MoCA_GoI that the pilot has been off-rostered...”
Ms. Nair said she was happy that the Minister had responded quickly to the complaint.
A statement from IndiGo said it was aware of the complaint raised by the passenger, and the matter was “under internal review”, and that necessary action would be taken.
(With inputs from Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi)
IndiGo de-rosters captain who threatened woman seeking wheelchair assistance for her mother at Bengaluru airport
15/01/2020 , Staff Reporter, CHENNAI
An IndiGo pilot, who reportedly harassed and threatened to get arrested two women passengers for seeking wheelchair assistance, has been taken off duty, pending an enquiry by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
Supriya Unni Nair, a resident of Bengaluru, had posted a harrowing account on social media of the “harassment” meted out to her and her mother late on Monday. Ms. Nair and her 75-year-old mother Vijayalakshmi had taken an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Bengaluru and sought wheelchair assistance in advance.
The ordeal began after the flight landed.
Recounting her experience, Ms. Nair said, “Our flight was late and when we landed at 9.15 p.m., I tried calling the assistance bell and when the crew did not respond, I walked up for help.”
The airline staff allegedly claimed that they didn’t have access to a wheelchair. “When I pointed this out, the captain Jayakrishna came barging out [of the cockpit] and yells at me for pressing the assistance button and annoying him and his crew,” she said in her post.
Ms. Nair said the captain then prevented the staff from bringing a wheelchair to help her mother out of the aircraft. He allegedly threatened them, saying that he would get them arrested.
“He prevents the wheelchair people from taking my mom out of the aircraft threatening us that he will ensure we are detained and spend a night in jail. Disbelievingly I ask him whether he is serious. ‘Shut up. Who do you think I am? I’ll get my CEO to make sure you spend a night in jail; we will teach you some manners, he says’,” Ms. Nair said in her post.
“We reach the bus and the captain is meanwhile ranting and stops it from moving forward,” Ms. Nair said, adding that it was the on-ground security and IndiGo staff who came to their rescue.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. Nair said the entire experience was traumatic. “I felt the need to put it out on social media because this shouldn’t happen to anyone else. No one, especially, a senior citizen should have to endure what my mother did. She was nervous and shivering.”
On seeing the post, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “I requested my office to contact @IndiGo6E as soon as I saw the tweet by Ms @SupriyaUnniNair about the pilot’s behaviour.... The airline has informed @MoCA_GoI that the pilot has been off-rostered...”
Ms. Nair said she was happy that the Minister had responded quickly to the complaint.
A statement from IndiGo said it was aware of the complaint raised by the passenger, and the matter was “under internal review”, and that necessary action would be taken.
(With inputs from Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi)
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