NEW DELHI, 4 Jan 2023:
A woman has claimed that a drunk man peed on her on an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi, alleging that airline crew failed to act against the accused co-passenger.
The incident happened on 26 Nov 2022, but came to light today.
The flag carrier, acquired by Indian conglomerate Tata Group, said it had taken the incident seriously and was investigating.
The woman had written a letter to Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekhar to share her harrowing experience on the flight from New York.
“The crew was not proactive in managing a very sensitive and traumatic situation, and I had to advocate for myself throughout, waiting for long to get a response,” the woman wrote in the letter first published by The Times of India.
She said she was “distressed that the airline made no attempt to ensure my safety or comfort during this incident.”
She recalled that after urinating, the man continued to stand there, exposing himself, and moved only after one of her co-passengers asked him to leave.
“My clothes, shoes, and bag were completely soaked in urine. The stewardess followed me to the seat and verified that it smelled of urine, and sprayed disinfectant on my bag and shoes,” she said in the letter.
She said flight stewards gave her a narrow crew seat before asking her to return to her seat. “Although the staff had put sheets on top, the area was still reeking of urine.”
She sat on a crew seat for the remainder of the flight, even as several seats in first class were vacant. “The crew did not feel that taking care of a distressed passenger was a priority.”
The carrier said in a statement that it had a “very serious view of the incident, where a passenger behaved in an unacceptable and undignified manner.”
The airline has filed a complaint with the police and, as a first step, has banned the passenger for 30 days, and reported the matter to the Indian aviation regulator.
“We have also constituted an internal committee to probe lapses on part of Air India’s crew and address the deficiencies that delayed quick redressal of the situation,” the airline said.
– EFE
Also read: Accused in Air India pee row Shankar Mishra arrested from Bengaluru