National carrier Air India has responded on Twitter to a video circulating on social media that shows passengers pleading to be allowed onto their flight while airline staff appear unmoved. A tweet from Air India says it is "distressed at the video on social media showing its airport staff in poor light. The matter is being examined." It also asks passengers to review ticket details.
In the video, that has six lakh views and 29,000 shares so far, officials of Air India appear unmoved by passengers who are seen pleading, shouting and even begging after they were not allowed to board a flight, allegedly because they showed up five minutes late for check-in.
"Once you are late, you are late. You lose the flight. Nothing is free," an official of the national carrier is heard telling passengers who allegedly arrived 55 minutes before their flight at Mumbai's international terminal. Air India's website says check-ins stop 60 minutes before an international flight.
Angry passengers are seen telling the staff that they had received wrong information from a travel website's message.
The officials do not react to the arguments and pleading. One woman is in tears, saying her mother is seriously unwell. "Please help me," she says repeatedly. The exchange took place on the morning of February 14 and was filmed by a passenger, who uploaded the clip on Facebook. Comments on social media have accused Air India of insensitivity.
Screengrab from Shivendra Namdeo's Facebook video
Air India last week faced the anger of a plane-load of cricket fans after its flight to Sydney was delayed for several hours, which meant that passengers could not make it to Adelaide on time for the India-Pakistan World Cup match on Sunday.