‘People keep staring at us, call again and again and then…’ Know from air hostesses how people misbehave in plane

‘People’s eyes keep staring at us’

The most common problem faced by air hostesses is people staring at them. Air Hostess Nikita (name changed) says, ‘Some passengers in the flight stare at the Air Hostess. It feels bad to stare at someone continuously. On the other hand, there are some passengers who repeatedly demand sometimes for water and sometimes for some other thing. They feel as if we are only for them and they have the right to call us whenever they want. As if we are not an airhostess but a maid in their house ‘She says that such problems are less in domestic flights than in international flights. In international flights, there is a long journey and on the other hand, many passengers indulge in misbehavior after having a drink. Getting up from the seat again and again, stumbling, bumping into someone while walking and creating ruckus over anything is a common occurrence in flights. There are some people who create ruckus when they are denied a drink, and when given a drink, they create a ruckus even after drinking too much.

‘Treated as if we were bought with tickets’

Many passengers who misbehave with the air hostess come on the flight, but she often does not raise her voice on these incidents. Airhostess Swati (name changed) says, ‘Everyone here behaves as if they have bought us along with the ticket. A traveler often travels from Delhi to Dubai. Once he said that today is our marriage anniversary. All of us crew members wished him and gave him a bottle of wine as a gift. After a few months again the same passenger said that today is my marriage anniversary and that day he was with another lady. When I told this to the crew member, they refused to give him any kind of gift. After this, that passenger sometimes created ruckus about the food and sometimes abused our service. But we thought it better to bear silently. Passengers complaining and threatening us have now become a matter of daily routine for us.

What can be the action?

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had made some rules in 2017 to deal with the complaints of passengers misbehaving during air travel. Under this, such passengers were divided into 3 categories. The first category includes threatening, offensive behaviour, verbal harassment and disturbing the peace. People doing this can be banned from air travel for 3 months. The second category includes pushing, grabbing, sexual harassment or inappropriate touching. In this, a 6-month ban is imposed on air travel. In the third category, such cases are included in which the life of the crew member is in danger. In this way, a ban on air travel can be imposed for two years or can be stopped from air travel for life. Ashwini Dubey, Advocate, Practicing Patiala Court, says, “Depending on the seriousness of the incident, the crew members may decide to remove the offending passenger from the aircraft or hand him over to the police for further investigation. Airlines often issue a warning before taking drastic measures, but if there is repeated aggressive behavior towards crew members, they may ground the offender without warning without warning. He explains that the complaint of misconduct is lodged by the pilot-in-command and is investigated by the internal committee of the airline. Until a decision is taken, the company can ban the passenger’s air travel. If the traveler commits the mistake again, his punishment can be doubled.

These incidents came to light recently

March 12: In a flight coming from London to Mumbai, the passenger was caught smoking cigarette and started shouting at the crew members.

January 30: A woman on a flight spat after punching crew members in the face as she was asked to take a seat.

January 5: In the flight, a foreign passenger asked the air hostess to sit near him, while the other passenger behaved obscenely.

January 9: Three drunk youths assaulted and misbehaved with the air hostess in the plane.