Mangalore: Air India Express Justifies its Action in offloading Two Passengers
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Jul 31: Air India Express has now come out with its official clarification on the incident in which, its Dubai- bound flight from the city that had taken off on Thursday July 30 at 9.30 pm was forced to land at Mumbai Airport due to the alleged unruly behaviour of two passengers, who are said to have posed security threat to the flight.
Speaking exclusively to daijiworld.com, Mangalore office, Chellam Prasad, manager, Air India, said, "Prasad Shetty and Shanawaz Khan, the two passengers who had boarded the flight from Mangalore airport, were in a noisy mood even before the flight took off. When one of the cabin crew, Altaf Mohammed, requested all the passengers to switch the mobile phones off, one among the above passengers, who was still talking on the phone, abused the crew by saying, "I know better about the safety norms of the airline than you."
Prasad said that the captain had filed a detailed report on this incident with the Air India management, and the report says, taking the flight ahead was difficult, as these passengers were threatening the cabin crew, and were abusing them, using filthy language.
"These two passengers started demanding alcohol within a few minutes of the flight taking off from Mangalore, and even when the belt-fastening signal was still on," the report claims.
"Our crew members tried their best to convince them, but their behaviour turned for the worse and hence, the captain had no other option but to land the flight at Mumbai," Prasad added.
The report, which was written by the head of the crew Sapna Kamble, mentioned that the captain had asked them to give three warnings. Despite serving three verbal warnings, the crew found that Shanawaz Khan's behaviour was suspious and the captain had to make the decision to land the flight at Mumbai airport.
“In the final warning, Sapna Kamble, head of the crew, informed both the passengers that, the flight would be landed in the nearest airport if they do not co-operate, but the passengers responded arrogantly, by threatening that, they would jump from the aircraft, if the flight is not taken back to Mangalore immediately. Also they shouted that, they wanted the captain to come to them and discuss."
Meantime, the Mumbai police have taken the custody of both the passengers and produced them to the court for further action.
Daijiworld contacted one of the cabin crew stationed in Mangalore, who reacted to the incident, on the condition of anonymity, by saying, "We have been facing very rude behahviour from many of the passengers. This has been a daily routine. When the cabin crew makes mistakes, people quickly complain to the media or the management. How can we react when passengers do not understand the basic rules of aviation?, " she questioned.
"Switching on the mobile phone, even after requesting the passengers to switch them off, is very dangerous. Even when we request the passengers politely to switch off the mobile phones, they react very angrily, as if we are forcing them to do so. It is the global rule and every passenger has to follow the same. We need maximum co-operation from the passengers while on the air," she explained.
Earlier - Daijiworld's 'on-board' report:
Dubai - Mangalore AI Express Drama : Two Passengers Offloaded in Mumbai
By Naveen Frank, On Board IX 811
Daijiworld Media Network
On Board IX811, Jul 31: Two unruly passengers travelling from Mangalore to Dubai by Air India Express IX811 were offloaded at Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji Airport after 45 minutes towards Dubai.
These passengers were sitting on one of the last rows of the aircraft.
The captain announced that the flight will be diverted to Mumbai and the passenger handed over to the authorities.
Meanwhile our correspondent who was on the same flight spoke to the flight attendant, who said that the said passenger were agitated because alcohol was not served on this particular flight.
They demanded that they be served liquor which was refused.
The captain finally decided to divert the plane to Mumbai.
Flight Landed at Dubai Airport at 4.30am, UAE time
IX811 finally took off from Mumbai airport at 0230 hrs IST and reached its destination Dubai after a 4 hr 30 minute delay.
What needs to be asked is, was the captain justified in diverting the flight back to India, and that too Mumbai a busy airport.
The flight took off smoothly from Mangalore at aroung 2136 hrs and all was well until about 45 minutes of flying towards its destination Dubai.
The captain made a strange announcement stating that alcohol and food will not be served due to the behaviour of some passengers and the security of the crew, pssengers and athe aircraft was of absolute importance.
Not many understood the seriousness of the announcement as there was no commotion nor was there any sign of any argument or raised voices. Another announcement soon followed which suggested that we were heading back to Mumbai to offload the unruly passengers. Only then did all heads turn to the back to see what had actually happened. Again, there was no sign of any verbal fight or anyone showing signs of any agitation.
What made the flight attendants to complain to the captain and what made the captain take the ultimate decision to divert the aircraft to Mumbai and have the 2 passengers arrested. The 2 passengers in question were in no position to talk. The flight attendendants were tight lipped except that the 2 men demanded alcohol which was refused. They did not turn physical nor did they raise their voices.
Speaking to the passengers closest to the men in question, it was learnt that initially it started with a friendly verbal conversation between the passengers and the flight crew. Somehow the flight crew could not take the constant pestering and hence must have taken a stern stand that further agitated the inibriated passengers. Would it have died down if the cabin crew just ignored them and went on to serve dinner as planned ? Nobody really knows what the passengers talked to the crew that made them approach the captain.
Similar incidents are common in many flights. Normally the cabin crew pacify or control the passengers . If it goes out of hand, they normally hand him over to the authorities at the port of call. Why did not the AIE captain do the same ? Why could he not alert the Dubai authorities and hand them over on arrival ? All the other passengers would have reached on time. Why did he decide to turn around and return to India. In fact he took him more time to return and find a landing slot in the busy Mumbai airport . If security was his concern, then he ought to have headed straight to Dubai and land as quickly as possible.
At the end of the day, a flight full of passengers with many small children were holed up on the aircraft for 5 hours with no food and water, limited air conditioning on the tarmac, overused toilets and a further 2 hours 30 minute flight to Dubai. Air India Express is duty bound to tell their passengers as to why they took such a drastic step for what seemed to be a simple case of unruly behaviour !