Unlimited free tickets for Air India CMD’s family

It's usually lonely at the top but not for the chief executive -- and his predecessors -- of the now critically ill Air India-Indian Airlines combine. As the airline fights for survival, an RTI application filed by activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal has revealed how over the years the definition of family has been expanded generously -- and it's now a big Hindu undivided family -- for the purpose of getting free tickets.
While employees make do with two free tickets a year, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) get an unlimited number of tickets for their families even in this time of avowed austerity. The airline, which is now trying to cut costs, says the freebies would soon be plugged. "There's a proposal to prune this policy drastically. How can children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law and sons-in-law are allowed to fly at the cost of the exchequer when we are asking for money from government to keep the airline afloat?" said a top government official. What was essentially to be a policy of free journeys for the CMD and his or her spouse, has over the years come to include whoever the chief wants to be considered as his family for the purpose. Ironically in 1995 -- when private airlines had started threatening its monopoly -- IA decided to free air travel "on an 'as required' basis to CMD and their families while they are in service". This basically meant unlimited free flights.
03/10/09 Times Now.tv

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Categories: NACIL Oct 2009