It's Not A Good Idea To Keep The Minister Waiting

This is probably NOT the way to win friends and influence government figures.

Seems India's Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel (right), was headed to Washington to sign a new Open Skies agreement with US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta last week when, for some unexplained reason, the Air India flight from Sahar Airport was delayed.

In fact, it was delayed for more than three hours and, when we say without explanation, we mean, the passengers waited in the departure lounge without a single signal from the airline.

Finally, fed up with waiting without knowing why, Patel dialed up Air India's general manager, Tarun Manilai and quite literally read him the riot act. India Daily reports Manilai told the minister there was some sort of technical SNAFU, at which point the minister yelled,  “I want to make Air-India an airline of international standards and because of you idiots we get a bad name! If there is a delay, inform the bloody passengers.”

Eventually, the flight took off and Patel was asked about the incident after arriving in Washington.

“Yes, I was annoyed," he said, according to India Daily. "If the flight is delayed, the airline should inform the passengers. These are small things but go a long way in building the image of the airline.”

As for Manalai or anyone else at Air India -- well, there wasn't much left to say, was there?

FMI: www.airindia.com