Passenger On Air India Flight Verbally Abuses Crew Members, Handed Over To Security Personnel

A passenger on board an Air India flight to Delhi was handed over to security personnel for his unruly behaviour, the airline said on Tuesday.

In the incident, which took place on flight AI882, a passenger verbally abused the crew members and then went on to physically assault one of them on board.

"A passenger on our flight AI882 on May 29 behaved in an unruly manner. The said passenger verbally abused the crew members and then went on to physically assault one of them on board. On landing at Delhi airport, the passenger continued with the unprovoked, aggressive behavior and was handed over to the security personnel. We have also reported the incident to the regulator," the Air India spokesperson said.

In a similar incident, Air India had imposed a two-year flying ban on an individual who caused physical harm to two female cabin crew members onboard a Delhi-London flight on April 10.

Earlier, on 26 November on a New York-Delhi flight, an inebriated co-traveller allegedly urinated on a 70-year old woman. Another similar incident happened on 6 December on an Air India flight from Paris to India.

Following a series of recent incidents involving unruly behaviour of passengers, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an advisory to all airlines, asking them to focus on unruly passengers that have potential of compromising the safety of aircraft operations.

"In the recent past, DGCA has noticed a few incidents of smoking in aircraft, consumption of alcoholic beverages resulting in unruly behavior, altercations between passengers and sometimes inappropriate touching or sexual harassment by the passengers on board the aircraft during the flight, wherein post holders, pilots and Cabin Crew members have failed to take appropriate actions. Such incidents have potential of compromising the safety of aircraft operations," the DGCA said.

Levels of Unruly Behaviour

DGCA regulations provide for classifying unruly passenger behaviour into three levels and such people can face flying ban for varying periods.

Level 1: Unruly behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation

Level 2: Physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking or sexual harassment

Level 3: Life threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence like choking and murderous assault.