Dealing With Unruly Airline Passengers — SC's Notice To Government Over Elderly Woman's Ordeal On Air India Flight

The Supreme Court of India has sent a notice to the Union government and others regarding a plea to implement mandatory Statement of Purpose and zero tolerance rules for dealing with unruly passengers and onboard sufferers, directed at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and all airlines.

The notice was issued on Monday (8 May).

A 72-year-old woman filed a plea after being urinated on by an intoxicated Shankar Mishra on a New York-Delhi Air India flight on 26 November 2022.

The case hearing is posted by the Supreme Court until July 2023.

The top court engaged the Solicitor General and granted the elderly woman's request for the DGCA and airlines to implement standard operating procedures to handle such incidents.

The woman wrote to Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran about her "appalling" experience and claimed the airline did not take appropriate action.

While on a flight, the passenger had an unfortunate encounter that she shared in a letter.

As she was preparing to sleep after lunch and the lights were turned off, an intoxicated passenger approached her and proceeded to relieve himself.

The passenger sitting next to her asked the man to return to his seat, but he initially did not respond. Eventually, he left the area.

Shankar Mishra, then vice president of Wells Fargo India, was fired from his job after the incident came to light.

There have been multiple reports since of drunken passengers urinating on others onboard.

Four such incidents occurred in January this year, with Indian men involved.

An Indian man urinated on a fellow passenger during a New York-New Delhi American Airlines flight, as per the latest report.

The alleged "unruly" passenger was flying on American Airlines flight AA 292 and was apprehended by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) upon landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.