Manika Batra, six others, denied boarding on 'overbooked' Air-India flight
Commonwealth Games star, Manika Batra and six other table tennis players were denied boarding on an Air India flight, on Sunday, which left them stranded at Indira Gandhi International Airport. They were told the flight was overbooked. The national carrier blamed the players' late arrival for the inconvenience and later they were booked on an alternate flight.
Out of 17, Air India lets only 10 players board
The team comprising 17 players were booked on AI 0308 flight to Melbourne to participate in ITTF World Tour Australian Open, which starts today. When the contingent reached the airport for the journey, only 10 players were allowed boarding, and rest were told the flight was overbooked. Along with Manika Batra, veteran Mouma Das, Madhurika, Harmeet, Suthirta and Sathyan weren't allowed to board.
We are in shock, Manika Batra tweeted
Air India says they weren't informed about team's journey
Manika Batra's tweets questioning the management of Air India naturally invited criticism for the national carrier. Air India then blamed different PNRs for the incident and said it had the utmost respect for sportspersons. The carrier further said they were not informed about the team's journey, earlier, and added players were provided hotel stay and were booked on a later flight.
Some of them may have reached late, Air India tweets
As it turns out, the team did reach late
Though the team boarded a flight to Melbourne the same day, after intervention by Neelam Kapur (director of Sports Authority of India), it's not like Air India was at fault totally. Giving the reason behind the incident, Kapur tweeted: "The team reached late. They were supposed to reach three hours before the flight but reached at 10.30 for the flight at 12.40."
