Airline Claims The Threatened Cabin Crew During Altercation Over Changing Seats

Indigo Airlines removed 70 passengers from a flight from Hyderabad to Raipur for "unruly behavior" Friday night after the group and cabin crew got involved in a disagreement over seat changes.

Shortly before takeoff, some passengers traveling as a group tried to rearrange their seats. Some of the male passengers stood in the aisles as they tried to sort out where they wanted to sit, which made it difficult for other passengers and the cabin crew to walk through the airplane, according to a report from The Times of India. The group would not settle down and take their seats despite numerous requests by the cabin crew.

The airline said in a statement that the passengers began to make physical contact with the flight crew and one began shouting at crew members. After about two hours, the airline asked the entire group, which was flying back to Rapur after attending a wedding, to leave the airplane. The entire group was required to deplane because they had been booked as a group.

The airline accommodated the group on a later flight at no additional charge, but the passengers filed a police complaint against the airline, saying they were "harassed by the crew" and not allowed to exchange seats. They also complained that their carry-on baggage was "held back" by the airline.

Indigo countered that the unruly passengers had "created panic on board" and that some had "hurled abuses at the staff. The airline said that the behavior of the group "made other passengers uncomfortable with the threatening remarks."

(Image from file)

FMI: Original Story