Tag: Unruly

Unruly passengers: DGCA issues advisory to airlines

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New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday issued an advisory to airlines reiterating the existing provisions in place to deal with unruly passengers.
The advisory comes against the backdrop of rising incidents of unruly passengers onboard flights and also on a day when a male passenger was deboarded by Air India from a Delhi-London flight for causing physical harm to two cabin crew members.
In an advisory, DGCA said there are provisions under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for action to be taken by the airline to deal with unruly passengers.

Besides, it said the responsibilities of pilots, cabin crew members and the director of inflight services are also mentioned in the CAR.
DGCA said that in the recent past, it has noticed a few incidents such as smoking in aircraft, consumption of alcoholic beverages resulting in unruly behaviour, altercations between passengers and sometimes inappropriate touching or sexual harassment by the passengers onboard an 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 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
The watchdog has advised the heads of operations of all airlines to sensitise their pilots, cabin crew and post holders on handling of unruly passengers through appropriate means.
The measures can be “but not limited to training programme for ensuring effective monitoring, maintenance of good order and discipline on board the aircraft so that safety of aircraft operations is not jeopardised in any manner,” the advisory said.

DGCA regulations provide for classifying unruly passenger behaviour into three levels and such people can face flying ban for varying periods.
Unruly behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation are classified as Level 1 while physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking or sexual harassment will be classified as Level 2.
Life threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence like choking and murderous assault will be considered as Level 3.
Depending on the level of unruly behaviour, an internal committee set up by the airline concerned can decide on the duration for which an unruly passenger can be banned from flying.
On Monday, Air India deboarded an unruly male passenger who caused physical harm to two cabin crew members onboard a Delhi-London flight, which returned to the national capital shortly after departure.
The passenger was handed over to the security personnel after the flight AI 111 landed at the Delhi airport and an FIR has also been lodged with the police, the airline said in a statement.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha on April 3, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said as many as 63 persons were put in the ‘No Fly List’ by airlines in 2022.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
AI urination case: Shankar Mishra moves Delhi HC against ‘unruly passenger’ tag

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New Delhi: Air passenger Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger on a New York-Delhi Air India flight, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking constitution of an appellate committee to hear his appeal against his designation as an “unruly passenger” and banning him from flying for four months.
As a single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh took up the matter, counsel for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated that the committee is already in place.
The court then asked the DGCA counsel to place the constitution of the appellate committee before the court within a week’s time and listed the case for the next hearing on March 23.
Mishra, who was arrested by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on January 7 for allegedly urinating on a 70-year-old woman while in a drunken state on a flight last November, was granted bail on January 31 by national capital’s Patiala House Court.
Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla had granted bail on the bail bond of Rs 1 lakh, holding that what Mishra has allegedly done is disgusting but the court is bound to follow the law.
Mishra has claimed in his plea where the DGCA, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India have been made respondents, that on December 20, 2022, the complainant woman filed a complaint against him on the Airsewa grievance portal.
Air India established an internal inquiry committee in response to the accusation. The committee issued an order on January 18, 2023, identifying him as a “unruly passenger” and banning him from flying for four months.
According to the petition, paragraph 8.5 of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for Handling Unruly Passengers provides that anyone who is unhappy with an inquiry committee’s decision may file an appeal before an appellate committee established by the Ministry of Civil Aviation within 60 days of the decision.

“The Petitioner, being aggrieved by the order dated January 18, 2023 on grounds of the aforementioned factual and legal infirmities seeks to prefer an appeal against the said order and has written emails to the DGCA on January 19 and to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on February 20, 27 and March 6. However, no such committee has been constituted as of the date of filing this Writ Petition,” the plea stated.
The plea further said that it is an established position of law that a statutory right of appeal is a vested right and the non-constitution of the appellate committee by the Ministry of Civil Aviation is eroding his right to exhaust all his remedies available unto him.
“As such, the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s inaction is directly infringing the petitioner’s rights under Article 21 of the Constitution,” it said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 15, 2023
Mumbai: Man accused of smoking, unruly behaviour on Air India flight gets bail

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Mumbai: A 34-year-old US citizen booked for allegedly smoking on board an Air India flight and unruly behaviour towards the crew was granted bail by a court here on Monday, police said.
The passenger was found smoking in the lavatory of London-Mumbai flight AI130 on March 10 and behaved in an unruly manner with the crew after they were alerted by the smoke alarm and threw the cigarette from his hand, the official said.
The airline officials handed him over to police when the flight landed in Mumbai, he said.
“The man, who is of Indian origin and holds a US passport, was produced in Andheri court and was granted bail on a surety of Rs 20,000. He will be released once he deposits this amount,” the Sahar police station official said.
He was charged under section 336 (whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others) and other provisions of Indian Penal Code and Aircraft Act, the official added.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 13, 2023
Air India CEO expresses concern over rising cases of unruly passenger behaviour

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New Delhi: Expressing concern over the rising number of instances involving unruly behaviours by passengers, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has called for concerted industry efforts to contain the problem.
Recently, Wilson had informed that incidents surrounding unruly behaviour by inebriated passengers are quite frequent, adding that the airline has now got strict and is reporting all such cases of unruly behaviours.
Wilson had said that the airline has learnt lessons and it could have reacted better to the issues surrounding the ‘peeing’ incident which occurred in November last year.
The Air India CEO said that the airline has realised the importance of reporting all such incidents. Stating that Air India is now investing more in technology, the CEO had told the media that there are many instances where the airline’s crew is at the receiving end when a drunk passenger misbehaves.
Talking to a news organisation, Wilson said that in the last six weeks alone, Air India had witnessed four incidents where people have either assaulted or threatened to physically assault its crew, and the airline is taking a zero-tolerance line on that.
He said that a rise in such cases globally had led even the industry body, International Air Transport Association (IATA), to take a serious view of the situation and call for industry-wide action to stem it.
In the instance of the ‘peeing’ incident onboard AI-102 operating between New York and Delhi on November 26, 2022, the concerned cabin crew and one pilot have been issued show-cause notices and were de-rostered pending investigation.
While addressing a virtual conference last week, the Air India CEO had said that the airline has enormous potential and efforts are on to make the group a significant international player.

Wilson said that Tata group-owned Air India’s order for a record 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing will be worth nearly $70 billion. The CEO also said that the process of integration of Vistara with Air India is underway and is now awaiting approval from the regulatory bodies.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 8, 2023
Aussie-Indian man pleads guilty to unruly behaviour on Air Canada flight

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Melbourne: An Australian-Indian man pleaded guilty to one count of behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner in an aircraft, and was fined AUS$750 by a local court this week.
Hardik Patel, 46, from Rooty Hill in western Sydney, became aggressive and abusive onboard a 15-hour Air Canada flight from Vancouver due to heavy drinking, and was arrested upon his arrival at Sydney Airport earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported.
The Air Canada crew found one litre bottle of Bacardi and a water bottle containing a liquid smelling strongly of alcohol with Patel. The crew confiscated the bottles as according to the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority, airline passengers can only consume alcohol provided by cabin crew during a flight.
The crew reported that Patel had then become aggressive shortly before AC33 from Vancouver touched down.
The Australian Federal Police officers, who arrested Patel, observed he had a “flushed face and a strong alcohol odour”.
According to a statement of facts submitted in the court, Patel “had poor ability to understand instructions and indifferent demeanour, which escalated to being abusive towards police”.
When the police told him that it is an offence to consume one’s own alcohol in an aircraft, Patel’s responses were “largely aggressive and incoherent”, the Daily Mail reported.
He continued to ask police why he was arrested and “became more verbally aggressive and argumentative towards police officers, yelling and screaming and trying to engage with members of the public,” the report said.

The police then decided to take Patel into custody “for his own safety and welfare and the welfare and safety of those around him”, the statement submitted to the court said.
The Downing Centre Local Court on Monday convicted Patel and fined him AUS$750.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 1, 2023
Unruly behaviour on flights: 63 passengers placed in ‘No Fly List’ since 2022

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New Delhi: In the last one year, a total of 63 passengers have been placed in the “No Fly List” for unruly behaviour. These include two incidents of urinating that have come to the notice of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Minister of State for Civil Aviation, V.K. Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Monday said: “In last one year, a total of 63 passengers have been placed in the “No Fly List” for such period, as recommended by the airline’s Internal Committee, constituted in accordance with Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), Section 3 — Air Transport, Series M, and Part VI titled “Handling of unruly/disruptive passengers.”
Government data disclosed that the number of incidents related to unruly behaviour of passengers in the flights has risen in the last one year.
In reply to another query, the Ministry informed that there are 143 passengers who have been placed in the ‘No Fly List’ since 2017 for a period as per the recommendations of the respective Internal Committee constituted by the airline.
As per the provision mentioned in CAR, a ‘No Fly List’ is maintained by DGCA containing specific information related to the passenger involved, contact details of identification documents, date of occurrence, sector, flight number, period of imposition of ban etc.
The majority of passengers placed in the “No Fly List” were for violation related to not wearing a mask or not obeying the instructions of crew members, said the reply by the Ministry.
The reply informed that as regarding specific incidents related to urination, action was taken by DGCA for non-compliance to applicable regulations.
For an incident in AI-102 flight, New York to New Delhi, dated November 26, 2022, a financial penalty of Rs 30,00,000 has been imposed on Air India. A financial penalty of Rs 3,00,000 has been imposed on Director Flight services of Air India and license of pilot in command suspended for three months.

For the incident in flight AI-142, Paris to New Delhi dated December 6, 2022, a financial penalty of Rs 10,00,000 has been imposed by the DGCA on Air India, said the reply.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 7, 2023
Unruly behaviour: Passenger offloaded from SpiceJet plane at Delhi airport

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New Delhi: An unruly male passenger was offloaded from a SpiceJet plane at the Delhi airport on Monday after he allegedly touched a female cabin crew in an inappropriate manner, according to sources.
Following the incident which happened during boarding a wet-leased Corendon aircraft that was to fly from Delhi to Hyderabad, the airline said it offloaded the unruly passenger as well as another person who was accompanying him.
The sources said that during the boarding, the male passenger behaved in an unruly manner and touched the female cabin crew member inappropriately.
Following a written complaint from the crew member, the passenger concerned was offloaded and handed over to the IGIA (Indira Gandhi International Airport) police station for further course of action, they added.
The plane was scheduled to operate SG-8133 flight from Delhi to Hyderabad.
A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it is looking into the matter and will take appropriate action.
“During boarding at Delhi, one passenger behaved in an unruly and inappropriate manner, harassing and causing disturbance to cabin crew. The crew informed PIC (Pilot in Command) and security staff of the same. The said passenger and a co-passenger, who were travelling together, were offloaded and handed over to the security team,” SpiceJet said in a statement.
A video clip purportedly of a heated argument between a cabin crew and the passenger onboard the plane was also shared on social media.

In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly behaviour by passengers onboard flights. Under DGCA norms, unruly behaviour can even attract life time ban on flying.
On January 7, two foreign nationals were offloaded from a Mumbai-bound Go First flight from Goa after they allegedly misbehaved with a woman cabin crew member.
At least three incidents of unruly passenger behaviour onboard two Air India international flights last year came to light in recent weeks. Among others, there was also an incident onboard a Thai Smile Airways plane from Bangkok to Kolkata last month.
On January 20, DGCA imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Tata group-owned Air India as well as suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the New York-Delhi flight in which a person allegedly urinated on a female co-passenger.
In the incident, which happened on November 26, 2022, the watchdog has also slapped a fine of Rs 3 lakh on Air India’s Director of in-flight services for failing to discharge her duties.
The enforcement actions for violation of applicable norms come nearly two months after the incident, which came to the notice of the DGCA only on January 4.
Air India has imposed a four-month flying ban on the accused Shankar Mishra, who is in jail now.
On January 9, DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India after finding the airline’s response as “lackadaisical and delayed” regarding two incidents of passenger misbehaviour onboard a flight from Paris to New Delhi last month.
In one incident, a drunk passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory and was not listening to the crew. In the second incident, another passenger allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of a fellow female passenger when she went to the lavatory. These incidents had happened onboard the Paris-New Delhi flight on December 6, 2022 that were not reported to the regulator.
On December 29, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) filed a police complaint regarding the scuffle between passengers onboard a Thai Smile Airways plane from Bangkok to Kolkata on December 26.
A video clip of the incident that happened before the take-off of the A320 plane from Bangkok on December 26 was shared on social media. In the clip, a male passenger was being slapped multiple times by a few male co-passengers.
“With regard to the scuffle between passengers on board a @ThaiSmileAirway flight, a police complaint has been filed against those involved. Such behaviour is unacceptable,” Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said in a tweet on December 29.
Under DGCA rules, the airline concerned is responsible for informing the regulator within 12 hours of landing of the aircraft in case of any incident of unruly passengers/ passenger rage/passenger misconduct reported in their flight, the statement said.
Besides, the airline concerned has to set up a three-member internal committee. It will have a retired District and Sessions Judge as Chairman, a representative from a different scheduled airline as a member and a representative from a passengers’ association or consumer association or retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum as the third member.
The committee can decide the duration of flying ban on the unruly passenger within 30 days and there could be a life time ban.
During the pendency of the decision by the committee, the airline concerned may ban such unruly passenger from flying for a period of up to 30 days, as per the rules.
After the committee takes the decision, the airline should maintain a database of all such unruly passengers and inform the same to DGCA, which is the custodian for maintaining the ‘no-fly list’.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 23, 2023