Air India cancels Sena MP's tickets again

Mumbai/New: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who had planned to fly to New Delhi from Mumbai on Wednesday, was left disappointed as Air India has cancelled two of his tickets. Mr Gaikwad, who had slapped and hit a 60-year-old duty manager of the national carrier “25 times” with his sandal when the official persuaded him to disembark after the plane landed at New Delhi’s IGI Airport from Pune on March 23, has become the first flier to be put on the “no-fly list” of all airlines in India.

Air India officials said Mr Gaikwad wanted to travel to New Delhi on Wednesday on Flight AI 806, that takes off from Mumbai at around 8 am. “The MP booked an open ticket (a facility for VIPs where the date of travel can be adjusted after the ticket is booked) before the (slapping) incident, that was rebooked for Wednesday,” an airline official said. An Air India statement said the ticket “has been cancelled”.

This was followed by another attempt to book a seat on Flight AI 551 from Hyderabad to Delhi, again for Wednesday, which was cancelled as well. Both these bookings were made on open tickets issued to him before the ban was imposed.

The airline is now ascertaining how many open tickets and frequent flyer tickets have been issued to the MP so that these could be cancelled, a source said. The Shiv Sena MP, at the centre of a raging storm after assaulting an elderly Air India staffer, was earlier barred from flying by all domestic airlines in an unprecedented step in India’s aviation history. A day after the incident, Air India had cancelled the MP’s return ticket while IndiGo too followed suit, forcing him to take a train to Maharashtra. The Osmanabad MP has so far refused to apologise for his alleged conduct.

Explaining why Mr Gaikwad’s tickets were cancelled, Air India spokesman Dhananjay Kumar said in Mumbai: “The situation for us remains the same, hence the ban on the MP still remains.” The MP has also been banned by Jet Airways, SpiceJet, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia. The civil aviation ministry is, however, yet to take a decision on whether this move is legitimate or not.

Airline sources claimed they have been very careful to check if the errant MP books air tickets so that their message to bullies is loud and clear.

An FIR has been registered against the MP on the basis of Air India’s complaint for repeatedly hitting 62-year-old duty manager Sukumar with sandals. The MP was angry at not being given a business class seat though he had insisted on boarding an all-economy flight.

Former pilot and aviation expert Vipul Saxena, however, sees the entire situation in a slightly different light. While he condemned Mr Gaikwad’s actions, he also referred to the action taken by the airline as arbitrary. He said: “A fair inquiry should have been conducted before such severe action was taken, though it is long overdue to reduce cases of unruly passengers.” He also said the MP being put on a no-fly list by all airlines was “defamatory” and “uncalled for”.

Mr Saxena said: “Till the time an inquiry is conducted and the situation is clear officially, the MP’s name should be deleted from the no-fly list.  The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation must modify rules to handle unruly passengers with caution. I hope the ministry deals with this issue with more maturity.”