Doctor allegedly manhandled, offloaded from IndiGo-flight after complaining about mosquitoes
A Bengaluru doctor was allegedly manhandled and forcibly offloaded from an IndiGo flight at the Lucknow Airport yesterday after he complained of mosquitoes in the plane. "The staff termed me a terrorist. They threatened me with dire consequences and pressurized me to write an apology letter," Saurabh Rai said. But IndiGo has denied the allegations, saying he was unruly and used words like "hijack."
'After IndiGo mistreatment, faced difficulty in arranging another ticket'
Rai, a doctor with Bengaluru's Narayan Hrudaylaya, was flying out from Lucknow yesterday when the alleged incident happened. When he boarded the Lucknow-Bengaluru flight (6E-541) at 6:35am, he found mosquitoes inside and complained to the crew. But they "mistreated" him instead, he said. "I had to arrange my next ticket for Bengaluru after a lot of hardship." He refused to write an apology letter.
'Rai threatened staff, urged other passengers to damage plane'
IndiGo denied the claims, saying Rai was offloaded because of his "unruly behavior." Apparently, Rai started abusing staff before they could address his concerns about mosquitoes. He also allegedly provoked other passengers to damage the aircraft and used words like "hijack." "Keeping in mind applicable safety protocols, the crew apprised the pilot-in-command, who decided to offload Rai from the flight," IndiGo said.
'NGT has prohibited disinfectant fumigation while passengers on board'
"Further, we would like to mention here that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has prohibited disinfectant fumigation in aircraft while passengers are on board. This order is currently being challenged by IndiGo before the NGT and the same is pending for adjudication," IndiGo added.
Last year was a debacle for IndiGo's customer service department
IndiGo faced a barrage of criticism last year when a video of its employees thrashing a passenger at the Delhi Airport went viral. The outrage increased after the airline ended up terminating the whistleblower instead. That came after ace shuttler PV Sindhu lashed out at IndiGo after a "very bad experience," wherein a ground staff member had behaved "badly and rudely" with her.
