Unruly Air India flyer tied to seat from Australia to Delhi

TNN

New Delhi, Aug 22, 2014 : It could have been a replay of Uruguay forward Luis Suarez chomping down on a hapless defender. Or a rerun of the famous scene from ’The Wolf of Wall Street’ in which Leonardo DiCaprio went berserk on a plane. An Indian passenger on Air India’s Melbourne-Delhi flight on Wednesday reportedly got so unruly after a few drinks that he allegedly tore the clothes of two flight pursers and tried to beat up and bite some fellow passengers.

 

Finally, the pilot sent a message to the airline command centre in Delhi that he wanted to divert the plane to Singapore to offload the passenger. But since the long diversion would have meant a delay of several hours for other passengers on board, the airline instead took a bold decision.

 

 

It asked the crew on board to firmly tie down the unruly passenger to his seat using ropes, wires and whatever material was on board so that he could not harm other passengers or jeopardize safety of the aircraft. The crew did just that and much like DiCaprio in the film, the passenger flew to Delhi firmly tied to his seat with a few strong flyers keeping a watchful eye on him. He was handed over to security agencies on arrival in Delhi.

 

"Once we confirmed that the passenger can be securely tied to his seat, the aircraft was asked to fly directly to Delhi. One person’s unruly act would have meant a delay by several hours for the other passengers," said an official.

 

This latest act of unruly passenger behaviour could strengthen some Indian airlines’ long-standing demand to have plastic handcuffs on board.

 

"Unruly flyers are a safety menace to both fellow flyers and the aircraft itself. Indian carriers have witnessed scores of such acts either by inebriated passengers or other perfectly fine people who suddenly acted strange. While strict action is taken once such people are handed over to security agencies on ground, the critical issue is keeping them in check when the plane is in air," said a senior pilot.

 

Looking for stuff to tie down such passengers is not an easy task as most aircraft do not carry any such stuff. Luckily for other flyers, AI’s Australia-Delhi flight had some ropes and wires on board that could keep the flyer firmly in his seat.

 

"Crew of Indian airlines on international flights has to be firm in serving drinks to passengers and ensure that no one gets more than a certain number of drinks. Foreign airlines are very strict. Try asking for a third or fourth drink on any western airline and the crew will firmly warn that you will be reported on arrival if you ask for more. Our hospitality, however, makes our crew more lenient which they should not be," said a pilot.