An elderly lady travelling on an Air India flight from John F Kennedy Airport to Delhi had to go through a harrowing experience on Saturday after a drunk passenger allegedly urinated on the seat where the lady was seated. Air India expressed their apology following the incident mid air between the United States and Delhi.
The incident came to light following a tweet from Indrani Ghosh, a New York based resident and the daughter of the elderly lady who was travelling in the Air India flight AI 102 bound for Delhi.In a tweet to Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Indrani Ghosh said, “AI 102 JFK to Delhi, seat 36-D. My mother travelling alone had to face extreme shock and trauma, when a drunk passenger post dinner service fumbled across to her seat, removed his pants and urinated on her seat! Please look into urgently. The man peed on the seat my mother was sitting!!! She was travelling alone and is completely traumatized! Reply ASAP.”
Ghosh further wrote that except for giving her mother another seat, nothing else had been done by the Air India crew onboard the flight. “My mother after deboarding the flight in Delhi and while waiting for her wheelchair, saw the unruly passenger walk away freely.”
Following the tweet, Sinha directed Air India to investigate the matter. In reply to Ghosh’s tweet, Sinha wrote, “Very unfortunate that your mother had to go through this harrowing experience.” Sinha also asked Air India to immediately report back to the Ministry of Civil Aviation or the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) with the action taken report.
Air India condemned the incident and said, “Our sincere apologies to passengers of the flight inconvenienced by this act. Our cabin crew promptly went all out to alleviate the inconvenience of the passenger from the moment the incident occurred till the flight touched down at Delhi. While an airline has no control over the behaviour of an individual passenger, our crew are trained to handle any situation with utmost care and concern.”