New Delhi: Last Saturday, a Kathmandu - New Delhi SpiceJet SG 46 was reportedly delayed by five hours and finally harried passengers including P K Maheshwari (67), his 62-year-old wife and a nine-year-old child of their family, boarded the aircraft after a very long wait.
Maheshwari and the crew got into a scuffle, which finally saw the pilot ordering the family to be offloaded from the airline's Boeing 737 late on Saturday night in Kathmandu. Each side claims that the other was at fault.
According to Maheshwari's complaint, he sat in row 13 aisle seat and being tired fell asleep. "Suddenly I was jolted awake... The stewardess had hit my foot with considerable force, though the aisle of the aircraft was clear... (She) started shouting at me that my foot was in the aisle."
A SpiceJet spokesman said: "The passenger who was disturbed got up and physically slapped the cabin crew. There is zero tolerance of this kind of physical abuse of crew anywhere in the world, including in India and therefore the captain made the decision he did (offloading the family), which is fully within his authority, is backed by relevant regulations, and is fully supported by management. Other passengers were witness to the slapping episode."
Maheshwari, who denies slapping the airhostess, says in his complaint that the airline asked them to get off the aircraft or else they would call the police.
14/11/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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Maheshwari and the crew got into a scuffle, which finally saw the pilot ordering the family to be offloaded from the airline's Boeing 737 late on Saturday night in Kathmandu. Each side claims that the other was at fault.
According to Maheshwari's complaint, he sat in row 13 aisle seat and being tired fell asleep. "Suddenly I was jolted awake... The stewardess had hit my foot with considerable force, though the aisle of the aircraft was clear... (She) started shouting at me that my foot was in the aisle."
A SpiceJet spokesman said: "The passenger who was disturbed got up and physically slapped the cabin crew. There is zero tolerance of this kind of physical abuse of crew anywhere in the world, including in India and therefore the captain made the decision he did (offloading the family), which is fully within his authority, is backed by relevant regulations, and is fully supported by management. Other passengers were witness to the slapping episode."
Maheshwari, who denies slapping the airhostess, says in his complaint that the airline asked them to get off the aircraft or else they would call the police.
14/11/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
