Mumbai: Air India, which has a history of angry customer complaints made news again as a Delhi-Bagdogra flight took off on Sunday without a functioning AC, endangering the lives of 168 passengers on-board.
The flight AI-880 took off from Bagdogra with a malfunctioning air-conditioner, prompting complaints from flyers. When travelers objected to the same, they were assured it would be taken care of.
This event comes within a week of the government announcing the disinvestment of the national carrier.
A video posted on Twitter by news agency ANI went viral, showing bitter passengers protesting the uncomfortable situation, while fanning themselves to get air. An angry passenger can even be heard grumbling how the Air India staff was prohibiting them from shooting the video.
#WATCH Air India Delhi-Bagdogra flight took off with faulty AC system, passengers protested complaining of suffocation pic.twitter.com/3nibvSrb1E
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 3, 2017
This event once again drags Air India's mismanagement and deteriorating services into spotlight. Flyers have time and again complained about impolite behaviour by staff, bad food and delays, among other things.
The above mentioned flight took off from Bagdogra, West Bengal at 1:50 pm on Sunday and landed in Delhi at 3.40 pm, 25 minutes ahead of its scheduled time. One of the flight passengers, Debasmita, took to Twitter to tag @airindiain to express her resentment.
@airindiain AI 880 the AC & oxygen mask (only one)was not working from IXB though the captain did nothing.Lodged a complain at DEL .
— Debasmita (@Debasmita076) July 2, 2017
As per protocol, oxygen masks are supposed to drop down when air pressure in the cabin falls. However, despite a hot, stuffy atmosphere in the cabin, some oxygen masks did not work. People had to resort to paper fans and magazines to survive in the cabin.
Air India officials admitted to news agency PTI that flyers had complained of the malfunctioning AC. Air India has launched an investigation into the same. This event exposes the irresponsibility of the cabin crew, which endangered the lives of the 168 passengers.
