A delay on top of a delay prompted mutiny on an Air India flight from New Delhi to Mumbai.
Video evidence captures a scary scene onboard in which passengers attempt to enter the flight deck and later physically assault a flight attendant.
AI865, operated by a Boeing 747-400, was delayed seven hours last Thursday. Passengers boarded at 9:15AM and the aircraft pushed on schedule at 10:00AM. But the plane promptly returned to the gate, where passengers were held hostage onboard until after 2:00PM. Finally, passengers were allowed to disembark and another aircraft was dispatched. Re-boarding took place around 6:00PM.
When it finally pushed for a second time, another problem was discovered and the captain opted to return to the gate. This proved to be too much for the frustrated passengers onboard.
Several headed upstairs, banged upon the flight deck door, and demanded that the captain show himself.
“If you dont open the door I will break the door”. Amazing. Such passengers should be put on no fly list by @DGCAIndia immediately. @airindiain Delhi-Mumbai flight on Boeing 747 returned to bay day before after a snag. Captain wont fly an unsafe plane, passengers must understand! pic.twitter.com/2AHf9IbirC
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) January 4, 2020
Meanwhile, more passengers demanded to exit the aircraft. When the aircraft reached the gate, however, passengers mobbed a flight attendant, pushed her away and attempted to open the aircraft door themselves. The flight attendant was able to regain control, but was visibly assaulted by at least one passenger.
Look at what they are doing with cabin crew. In US they would have been arrested. @MoCA_GoI @DGCAIndia #shameful pic.twitter.com/ASi1CVyL3k
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) January 4, 2020
What makes this scary? Beyond the pressure the flight crew must have felt onboard, it seems that no arrests were made. Instead, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has simply asked Air India to launch an investigation over what happened.
Tepid Response From Air India
For its part, an Air India spokesperson told the Times of India:
“A video of few passengers of AI 865 of January 2 is being widely circulated in different forums.That flight was considerably delayed due to technical reasons. AI management has asked the operating crew for a detailed report on the reported misbehaviour by some passengers. Further action would be considered after getting the report.”
Further action will be considered? That’s rather light language considering there is video evidence. Then again, the frustration can be somewhat appreciated after such a long delay.
CONCLUSION
While I can empathize with the passengers onboard who encountered such a nasty delay, there is simply no justification for threatening the pilots and flight attendants. No one should be held hostage on an airplane, but open rebellion only exacerbates the situation.
(H/T: View from the Wing // image: Himmat Rathore / Creative Commons 3.0)
If only the pilot have the courage to fly the plane, he/she would contribute a concrete solution to India and world problem of overpopulation…..
This passengers should shut up and let the big corporations screw them like capitalism demands.
“This passengers should shut up and let the big corporations screw them like capitalism demands.”
From Wikipedia: “Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Air India Limited, a government-owned enterprise, and operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving 94 domestic and international destinations.”
https://www.businesstoday.in/sectors/aviation/govt-plans-to-sell-air-india-other-state-owned-firms-by-march-2020-finance-ministry/story/380772.html
Thank you for once again showing your ignorance and delusional hatred of things that you don’t understand.
Years ago, we were stuck in the penalty box at ORD during a heavy snowstorm. One passenger had “finally had enough.” He ran through First Class, grabbed the 1L door handle, and started trying to open the door. I jumped in to stop him. The result: the two of us had a wrestling match on the floor as I tried–ultimately successfully–to overpower him. Sixteen First Class passengers sat on their hands and watched. Not one tried to intervene.
What a shit country. This would never happen in a developed nation.
Howard, Do you remember the United flight where the passenger was dragged from the plane or another flight where an autistic kid and her Mother were dragged out of plane. A simple search on YouTube would show number of videos of passengers of your so called developed world getting [redacted by admin] faced drunk and misbehaving on the plane, also mile high club was not an Indian invention. I’m in no way justifying passengers behavior in this case, but try sitting in a tarmac for four hours on a stationary aircraft. Sometimes shit gets crazy. Next time don’t pass a judgment on citizens of a whole nation based on one incident. Also if you don’t have anything constructive to say then shut the [redacted by admin] up.
Love this response!
Not the first time and definitely not the last. I was on a United flight from Newark to Mumbai which got canceled after boarding and 3 hrs of wait because airspace on Pakistan was shut resulting in the crew timing out. People (of south asian origin) lost their cool and after deplaning started shouting at the gate agents and the crew. Completely unnecessary.
I have many Indian friends and they all say they would not fly Air India even for free. I think they have a good point.
Oh, has anyone heard of Deep Roy? Well, his rant went viral, and got reported in the local press. He thought deleting his Facebook post would have saved himself, but I managed to get the screenshots before any evidence went missing!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156820557797285&set=a.10156820563967285&type=3&theater
Total s-hole country
Indian passengers, well, why were you surprised? You should be shock if they behave in a classy manner. Totally agreed with reader Santastico, so many said that one should never fly Air India unless you can hold not to use the toilet for 20 hours. Just to be clear, Air India’s aircrafts do have toilets on the planes- However, does one have the courage to enter is the issue.
Air India has a long distinguished history of treating their customers like garbage! I flew them several times and there was always a problem with seat reservations, and rudeness and general disdain for the passengers. Their website to purchase tickets was unsecured and buggy. It was so bad, that we had to use a travel agent to but tickets because we could never complete a transaction. Other passengers in the waiting area told us similar stories and said they only flew AI because it was the only direct connection from USA to Mumbai at the time. (This was 15 years ago.)