According to legal and aviation experts, Air India's handling of an incident in which an inebriated
male flier urinated on a female co-passenger indicates an urgent need for stricter rules to deal
with unruly passengers. Instances of inappropriate behaviour on flights have increased in recent
years, experts say, because airlines try to cover up such incidents for commercial reasons.
According to police, on November 26, last year, the male passenger, Shankar Mishra, urinated
on a woman co-passenger in her 70s in the business class of an Air India flight from New York
to Delhi. On January 4, Delhi Police filed a FIR against him based on a complaint filed by the
woman with Air India, and he was arrested on Saturday in Bengaluru.
The Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) of 2017 for handling unruly passengers should be
amended, according to experts, to prevent such incidents in the future. The rules were drafted
by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in 2017, following an assault on an Air India
employee by then-Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad. Unruly behaviour by a passenger on a
flight is a punishable offence under these rules.
Meanwhile, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran's statement that Air India fell short in
addressing the incident of an inebriated passenger allegedly urinating on an elderly woman co-
passenger has done some damage control — but the airline's tardy response to the on-board
horror more than a month later does not cover it in glory. The obvious flaws in passenger safety
and protocol call for a close examination and immediate review. The struggling Indian national
carrier, which was only recently purchased by the Tata group, clearly requires a complete
overhaul.
The fact that Chandrasekaran stated that it was a matter of personal anguish for him and his
colleagues does not diminish the gravity of the incident. In another similar incident, a passenger
on a Paris-New Delhi flight was accused of urinating on the blanket of a female passenger who
had gone to the washroom. Neither of these incidents was reported to the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation, despite the fact that it is required. The DGCA has now requested a report on
the matter. The Air India crew did not bother to notify security upon arrival in Delhi, instead
attempting to reach a hasty compromise between the traumatised victim and the perpetrator,
which was clearly not within their remit, possibly to avoid a lengthy stay at the airport to brief the
security staff. Following the public outrage over the incident, the perpetrator was only recently
apprehended.
The 'peegate' incident would have gone unreported if the woman's letter to Tata Sons chairman
expressing disappointment at the cabin crew's insensitivity to her anguish had not become
public. She stated that she was forced to sit in a crew seat and was not offered an alternative
seat despite the fact that first class seats were available. Despite her nightmare, the pilot
apparently refused to upgrade her seat. The crew's complete failure to respond to a difficult
situation with sensitivity and tact is evidence that Air India needs to go back to the drawing
board and retrain its staff on various safety, protocol, and in-flight management issues. The
airline, which has received a new lease on life following the Tatas' purchase, has a long way to
go before it can relive its glory days when the Maharaja flew high and was the toast of the
country.
