A differently-abled woman passenger on a flight to Mumbai was on Sunday offloaded by SpiceJet after the crew alleged it was not safe to have her on board.
J. Ghosh (40) was not allowed by the crew of the Kolkata-Mumbai flight to fly alleging she was mentally ill and it was not safe to allow her inside the aircraft, sources at the N.S.C. Bose International Airport said.
After being denied permission to fly, Ms. Ghosh lodged a complaint with SpiceJet authorities. The authorities apologised to her and said she would be accommodated in their Monday flight to Mumbai, the sources added.
Ms. Ghosh alleged that the pilot was “adamant” in not allowing her to fly though some people tried to convince him. “I think such people should get a show-cause. They don't deserve to hold the job. They are not human beings,” she said. Ms. Ghosh was said to be a teacher at Kolkata's Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy.
Shame on SpiceJet. The pilot should be fired from his job for being adamant. An apology and offering another flight were not just enough to give justice to Jeeja.
If the passenger has got a valid Travel Certificate, then everything will be smooth.
SpiceJet has a track record of doing these things. A couple of weeks back, a spiceJet flight was running more than 2hrs late and when finally it arrived, the crew were rude to say the least. And when one passenger talked back to them, he was announced intoxicated and was offloaded (with no basis; that passengers neighbors were convinced that he was not). The pilot and the crew would not listen to any number of requests. Till the time we have some strict rules, it will keep happening.
There's no point blaming the pilot. Had some danger really struck due
to the woman travelling, the pilot would have been blamed for having
allowed the woman on board. I do not think the pilots employed by
private airlines are totally up to the mark. the pilot of an aircraft
needs a great deal of common sense and a good deal of practical
knowledge in addition to being able to fly properly. I do not think
these qualities are these in the private airlines' pilots.
Moreover, a detailed instruction sheet should be available on how to
deal with these types of situations. Then the number of such incidents
will be cut down drastically.
The lady deserves our sympathy, sure, but let us not condemn the pilot
outright - he has a side in this story as well.
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