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Air India Express staff attacked by unruly passenger at Mumbai airport
Passenger assaults staff over priority check-in dispute, later handed over to CISF.
A woman passenger allegedly assaulted a female staffer of the Air India Express at a counter at the Mumbai airport on Sunday. The passenger was later handed over to the police, news agency PTI reported.
"On 1st September, a passenger at Mumbai airport misbehaved with a staff member of our ground operations partner. The Duty Manager promptly notified CISF, and the passenger was handed over to the police in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures," an Air India Express spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
An argument erupted between the passenger and staff over an issue related to priority boarding. The female passenger was reportedly asked to wait as another fellow passenger was going through her check-in process.
Agitated over being asked to wait for a while, the passenger turned abusive and reportedly assaulted the airline staff.
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Reacting to the incident, the airline said, “Air India Express reiterates its zero-tolerance approach to any behaviour that jeopardises the safety and well-being of our guests and employees, and those of our partners”.
How airlines deal with unruly passengers?
The handling of unruly passenger behaviour is guided by Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on “Handling of unruly passengers” issued by India's civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to DGCA guidelines, “unruly passenger behaviour includes but is not limited to, consuming alcohol or drugs resulting in disruptive behaviour, smoking, not obeying pilot instructions, using threatening or abusive language, physically threatening or abusive behaviour, intentional interference with crew duties, and endangering aircraft safety”.
Physically abusive behaviour, including pushing, kicking, hitting, inappropriate touching or sexual harassment is classified as a Level 2 offence.
A First Information Report (FIR) is lodged with concerned security agency and the unruly passenger is handed over to them.
The airline can impose an immediate ban of up to 30 days on the concerned person and inform the DGCA to add them to No-Fly list maintained by the regulator. Other carriers can also ban such passengers based on the level of offence.
