Did SpiceJet overcrowd Delhi-Mumbai flight?

New Delhi: Low-cost airline SpiceJet Ltd staff illegally allowed children, who should have been given separate seats, to travel on the laps of adults to accommodate more passengers on a Delhi-Mumbai flight earlier this month, according to a complaint being investigated by the regulator.
The complaint was made in a letter sent to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), aviation minister Praful Patel and other ministry and regulatory officials.
“DGCA is investigating the matter,” a civil aviation ministry spokeswoman said in reply to questions sent on Monday.
SpiceJet chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal’s office said he was out of the country and would only be able to comment after he returns on 24 June. Emails and calls to Aggarwal remained unanswered. The airline is in the process of being taken over by media baron Kalanithi Maran, who runs Sun TV Network Ltd.
The 2 June flight, SG-103, had been delayed by four hours after planes had to be switched. SpiceJet deployed a 189-seat Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft instead of one with 212 seats as scheduled.
“There was a mother and her maid sitting behind me with two daughters. They already had four seats, but were asked to move to two seats,” said Shuchita Srivastava, who was travelling on the same flight. The complaint letter was written by her husband Sandeep Srivastava.
About 15 passengers were asked to get off the plane as there weren’t enough seats, provoking them to protest. The airline then asked that the children sit on the laps of adults they were travelling with, though the rules prescribe that those above the age of 2 have to be accommodated in seats.
22/06/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: SpiceJet Jun 2010