IndiGo pilot suspended for threatening passenger who requested wheelchair assistance

Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted saying that he requested his office to contact the airline as soon as he saw the passenger’s tweet thread about the incident.
IndiGo pilot suspended for threatening passenger who requested wheelchair assistance
IndiGo pilot suspended for threatening passenger who requested wheelchair assistance
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An IndiGo airlines pilot has been off-rostered a day after Supriya Unni Nair, a passenger who was travelling on a flight from Chennai to Bengaluru posted about her harrowing experience with the aircraft pilot. 

Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in a tweet, said that he requested his office to contact the airline as soon as he saw the tweet about the pilot’s behaviour towards the passenger and her mother, who needed wheelchair assistance. 

“The airline has informed @MoCA_GoI that the pilot has been off-rostered pending full enquiry,” he said. 

“Your captain on 6E 806 from Chennai to Bangalore on January 13 Jayakrishna harassed, threatened and prevented me and my 75-year old diabetic mom from disembarking the flight and threatened to arrest us because we asked for wheelchair assistance,” Supriya had written in a tweet. 

In a series of tweets, she narrated the threats made by the pilot on the flight and the abusive language he used, until the IndiGo staff on the ground in Bengaluru intervened. 

The problem started when the passenger’s mother, who needed a wheelchair, was told by the staff she wouldn’t be given access to it despite a request at the time of booking. It was then that the pilot barged in and yelled at Supriya for “pressing the assistance button and annoying him and his crew,” she tweeted. The pilot went on to yell at Supriya for addressing the flight attendant by her name. “Taken aback, I tell him not to yell at me and then the threats start. The wheelchair guys arrive and he points at mom and says youre not going anywhere (sic),” she wrote.

Supriya went on to narrate, “He prevents the wheelchair people from taking my mom out of the aircraft threatening us that he will ensure we are detained and spend a night in jail.” 

“I'll get my CEO to make sure you spend a night in jail, ‘we’ will teach you some manners, he says,” Supriya quoted the pilot as saying, adding, “You have paid piddly 2000 rupees you dont own the aircraft he adds. I will make sure you are barred from the skies he yells my mom and me (sic).” 

Supriya narrated that the abuses and threats continued even after disembarking from the aircraft, and in the bus to the lounge and later at the airport lounge.

Speaking to TNM, Supriya said that she was thankful to the Aviation Minister for his concern as well as prompt action. 

“My intent of putting this out on social media is that we went through a very bad experience. It’s very traumatic, and I don’t think any passenger should go through that. It shouldn’t happen to anyone,” she said. 

“No passenger should be treated like that ever — my mother needed a wheelchair, but wheelchair or not, young or old, no one should be spoken to like that,” she added. 

This action by IndiGo comes after the airline responded to Supriya that an inquiry was being conducted.

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