Peeing, teasing, drinking...the growing list of Indian passengers in flight scuffles
Recent instances of misbehaviour by Indian passengers on flights have raised serious questions. From urinating on a co-passenger to brawling, and calling flight attendants ‘servants’, we Indians seem to have developed some kind of strange behaviour mid-air.
Here is a list of shameful incidents that have tarnished the reputation of the Indian flier.
Urinating co-passenger
A female passenger travelling on an international flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26, 2022, alleged that a drunk man urinated on her in-flight but was let off without any action by airport authorities. The victim alleged that the cabin crew was highly insensitive and chose to ignore the incident, although they did give her a fresh set of clothes as the set she wore during the ordeal was soiled.
Watch: Air India slaps 30-day ban on unruly passenger
Mid-air brawl
Mid-air fights may happen, but this one takes the cake. A viral video clip showed a pitched brawl taking place between a couple of Indian passengers on board a Thai Smile Airways flight, even as the Thai air hostesses watched in utter shock and disbelief. The incident happened on a Bangkok flight to Kolkata on December 27, 2022.
Video of a fight between pax that broke out on @ThaiSmileAirway flight
Reportedly on a Bangkok-India flight of Dec 27 pic.twitter.com/qyGJdaWXxC
— Saurabh Sinha (@27saurabhsinha) December 28, 2022
‘Not your servant’
An Indian airline attendant had a furious mid-air exchange with a passenger where she told him “shut up, I am not your servant”, after he made her colleagues weep with his demands over a meal. The incident allegedly took place on a flight from Istanbul to Delhi on December 16, 2022.
Tempers soaring even mid-air: "I am not your servant"
An @IndiGo6E crew and a passenger on an Istanbul flight to Delhi (a route which is being expanded soon with bigger planes in alliance with @TurkishAirlines ) on 16th December : pic.twitter.com/ZgaYcJ7vGv
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) December 21, 2022
Threatening pilots
An Air India flight was scheduled from Delhi to Mumbai on January 2, 2022. Unfortunately, it was delayed for 8 hours due to a technical snag, leading to unruly passengers gathering around the cockpit door to threaten the pilots with one passenger even heard saying, “If you don’t open the door I will break the door.”
"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
Inflight Romeos
Three passengers were arrested for allegedly misbehaving with an Indigo air hostess on April 10, 2022. The passengers, identified as Pradip, Kuldip and Gyanendra, were nabbed after the cabin crew took the matter up with the police and lodged a complaint.
Impatient passengers
In a Delhi-bound flight from New York, on May 19 2014, a passenger “grew impatient waiting for his drink and accosted the air hostess mid-flight”, according to reports. It is alleged that the passenger made several demands for liquor and when the air hostess asked him to wait, he molested her.
In March 2014, Bajpe Police (Mangalore) officials arrested an inebriated passenger for misbehaving with the cabin crew and other passengers. The passenger was on the way back from Dubai and had been consuming liquor prior to boarding the flight.
