TMC MP delays Air India flight by nearly 30 minutes

Air India maintained that Sen refused to abide by security protocols.

New Delhi, April 7: In an another incident of unruly behaviour, the Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen on Friday delayed Air India's Delhi-Kolkata flight by nearly 30 minutes over seating arrangement.

The incident was reported Air India's AI020 flight. It has been reported that the airline's crew disallowed her wheelchair-bound mother to fly next to emergency exit.

Meanwhile, Air India maintained that Sen refused to abide by security protocols.

In a statement, Air India said, "There was no remark of wheel chair during booking, but when passengers boarded one (MP's mother) was on wheel chair", while adding that "as per rules, cabin crew requested that wheel chair passenger can't travel on emergency exit."

The MP had booked front row seats on makemytrip.com and had paid extra for those seats, said Air India. But she could only be booked on emergency exit seats, which also have similar leg room.

When Sen boarded the plane with her wheelchair-bound mother, she was told by the cabin crew that rules do not permit wheelchair-bound passengers to sit on emergency exit seats, said Air India.

The airline said the MP didn't mention that she was being accompanied by a wheelchair-bound passenger at the time of booking tickets.

Following this, the TMC MP "shouted and screamed" at the cabin crew, the airline claimed. This forced the pilot to come out of the cockpit, who offered business class seats to the MP's mother but Sen declined. Her mother was finally given another seat.

"Don't know about misbehaviour, point is she didn't cooperate and flight was delayed", said Congress leader OP Mishra, who was also Dola Sen's co-passenger.

The incident comes close on the heels of the recent ugly spat between the Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad and Air India.

Earlier in the day, Air India revoked its flight ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad with immediate effect, two weeks after he had assaulted an airline staffer onboard a plane.

OneIndia News