Pilot sends minister's kin back to economy

Mumbai: An Air India pilot recently sent a passenger back to his economy class seat though his higher-ups sought to upgrade him. Within days of issuing a circular that employees would have to travel economy class, the office of the airline's CMD reportedly demanded that a minister's relative be upgraded to business class.
Though the crew acceded to the request, the captain sent the passenger back to economy class, citing the circular.
On May 29, Navin Patel was on board flight AI 191 from Ahmedabad to Frankfurt. Patel was allotted seat 44C. "The flight was to depart at 9:05pm. After boarding, our airline manager came with a request that Patel be upgraded to business class," said a crew member. "We told the manager [A Trivedi] that the CMD had recently sent a circular stating that nobody should be upgraded to business class.
"But he insisted there had been calls from the CMD's office that the passenger was a minister's relative. Though he didn't have any telex or written instruction from Mumbai, he said the CMD's office wanted the passenger upgraded at all costs," she said. The crew moved Patel to row 16A in the business class.
"When the flight commander was informed about the upgrade, he refused to give in and told the passenger to return to his seat in economy," she said.The passenger was upset and asked the commander his name before going back.
03/06/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Air India - International Jun 2009, NACIL Jun 2009