Devanahalli (Bangalore Rural): A 24-year-old lady was detained for allegedly smoking in a Kolkata-Bangalore bound Indigo flight's washroom at around 9:50 pm on Sunday. Priyanka Chakraborty, who hails from the Sealdah area of Kolkata, was suspected to have smoked onboard the flight, and when the cabin crew of Indigo flight 6E 716 checked the washroom, they found a cigarette butt in the dustbin.
The crew immediately poured water into the dustbin for safety purposes to put off the cigarette butt. The incident took place 30 minutes before the flight landed at Bangalore's Kempegowda International Airport.
As soon as the flight landed, the crew handed over Chakraborty to airport security. Shankar K, Assistant Manager of security at Interglobe Aviation, BIAL, said that they reported the matter to the police who filed a case against the accused on the charges of endangering the life and personal safety of others. Kempegowda International Airport police took the accused into custody and launched a thorough probe into the incident.
The incidents involving unruly passengers have become a common occurrence and more such cases are being reported every other day. It began with the infamous pee gate scandal involving a drunk man urinating on a fellow female passenger. Over the unruly passenger incidents, Air India has modified its in-flight alcohol service policy wherein cabin crew have been told to tactfully refuse further serving of alcohol if needed.
Also read: Air India Pee-Gate issue: How is the other woman not enraged? asks Shankar Mishra's counsel
The Tata group-owned airline has been slapped with penalties in the last few days by DGCA in connection with the unruly behaviour of passengers onboard two international flights. According to the revised policy issued on January 19, guests should not be permitted to drink alcohol unless served by the cabin crew and the cabin crew be attentive to identifying guests that might be consuming their own alcohol.
"Service of alcoholic beverages must be carried out in a reasonable and safe manner. This includes tactfully refusing to (further) serve a guest alcohol," as per the policy. Air India has also issued a set of 'do's and don'ts' of service refusal. These require the cabin crew to be polite and avoid value judgements and use tact to politely inform the guest he or she will not be served any more alcohol.
