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IndiGo Airlines is making headlines, in light of a recent viral video showing an altercation between an unruly passenger and a flight attendant. Posted on 21 December, the clip has since garnered 11.9K likes and 1,846 retweets.
But, what exactly happened? Upon receiving the standard airline meal, a passenger - travelling to Delhi from Istanbul - caused a ruckus over his disappointment with the meal provided to him. His insulting behavior caused one of the crew members to break down into tears. That's when the attendant in the video, a crew lead, intervened.
The clip shows the air hostess being assertive throughout, defending her crewmates until the passenger calls her a 'servant'. Tensions rise as the flight attendant can be heard screaming, "I'm an employee, I'm not your servant."
What did the airlines say? As the clip grabbed several eyeballs and made headlines, IndiGo Airlines also issued a statement.
Now what? The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation. Speaking to the Mint, a senior DGCA official commented, "We are looking into this".
How did netizens react? In no time, Twitter was flooded with support for the cabin crew. The CEO of Jet Airways, Sanjiv Kapoor, also shared the clip with his two cents.
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Netizens were largely empathetic towards the cabin crew. Many shared their own accounts of unruly passengers and the entitlement with which they treat flight attendants. A Twitter user wrote, "Good for her for taking a stand and snapping at an obnoxious, entitled passenger."
Here's what others have to say:
Where do aviation laws fit in? Incidents like these are frequent in the Indian aviation sector. Under the updated Aircraft Rules 1937, the Indian aviation law allows for a passenger to be marked as 'unruly' if they fail to abide by aviation guidelines or obstruct the decorum.
Unruly behavior also includes abusive or threatening conduct towards crew members and/or passengers, whether it is verbal or physical in nature.
Similarly, passengers have also been given the provisions to complain about an unruly cabin or flight crew member. They can approach the DGCA aviation regulator or issue a complaint through the Air Sewa app. Regulators also take Suo moto cognizance of complaints on social media platforms.
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