Paralympic medallist alleges ill-treatment on plane

GURGAON: Paralympic silver medallist Deepa Malik lodged a formal complaint against Vistra airlines for “poor handling” of wheelchair-bound passengers and “rude and

GURGAON: Paralympic silver medallist Deepa Malik lodged a formal complaint against Vistra airlines for “poor handling” of wheelchair-bound passengers and “rude and ill-mannered” crew on-board.

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Malik was travelling from Mumbai to Delhi via Vistara flight UK 902 on her way back to her Gurgaon home when the incident happened. She also gave a written complaint to the airlines on-board. She alleged that one of the cabin crew members behaved rudely with her when she was informing her mother on the phone that the flight scheduled to depart at 3:35 pm from Mumbai airport was delayed.

“Crew member Priyanka was very rude in the flight. She told me to speak softly when I called parents to inform them about the delay in flight,” she wrote in the complaint.

“On objecting, she said “sweetheart, chill”,” Malik added.

“...plus wheelchair handling is so poor that you do not know how to shift a person from seat to cabin chair. The entire staff stands and looks at each other for 10 minutes. No action,” she said in the complaint. She alleged that the cabin crew was not ready to help her reach the cabin seat as they were not trained for it.

Deepa, who won a silver medal at Rio Paralympic Games last month, was in Mumbai to attend a programme with Sachin Tendulkar and actor Hrithik Roshan in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The airlines was quick to react to Malik’s tweets and promised to investigate the matter.

“@deepaathlete. This is not good to hear. Let us investigate the matter right away and get back to you,” tweeted the company on its official handle @airvistara.

Vistara is a joint venture of Tata group and Singapore Airlines and has its office in Gurgaon.