A manager of Indigo airlines refused to let a boy who was specially-abled, to take a plane from the airport of Ranchi. He claimed that the boy was in a panic-stricken state and hence did not permit the boarding. As the occurrence came to the public view, the airline issued a statement.
Yesterday, the incident went viral and the hashtag of the airline was even trending on twitter. The staff reported harassed the child according to an eye-witness. The incident was discovered after the witness made an account of it on a social media platform.
A passenger, named Abhinandan Mishra, who was there at the time of the harassment, said that the child had gone through a ride in a car that was uneasy, to the airport. On reaching the gate for boarding, he was visibly stressed. The situation, however, was brought under control by the child’s parents with some love and food. But as soon as they went for the boarding, the accused manager of Indigo told the trio that the boy must act normally. Otherwise, he would be halted from boarding the flight.
This was not everything from the manager’s side. Reportedly, he declared that the boy, who was specially-abled, was a risk to the other passengers. He even made comparisons of the problem of the boy which is called assertiveness of teenage to the behaviour of intoxicated passengers. The co-passengers opposed this move of the staff as he regarded the boy unfit for travelling.
The staff was brutally slammed after this and the occurrence has called for a great debate on who should decide the normalcy of a person who has disabilities; the medical workers who are there at the airport, the airline manager or the staff. There are doctors who were boarding the same plane and they gave them assurance of help, according to the other passengers. But ultimately, leaving the nuclear family behind, the plane went to Hyderabad.
The incident had much buzz on Twitter after the post of Mishra. The statement from the airline said that the staff on the ground waited for the child to get back to normalcy until the last moment. But it was to no avail. The family was made comfortable by the airline by giving them accommodation at a hotel. The trio carried on with their trip the next morning. The authority also regretted the inconvenience that was indulged upon the family.
Manisha Gupta, another witness to the scene and a fellow passenger, also wrote in an elaborate Facebook submit the details of the incident. She quoted a fellow passenger’s retort to the supervisor of the airline that the one who was in panic was the supervisor.
The other passengers held up their mobile phones with twitter posts and other information articles regarding judgements of the supreme court on how no airline might discriminate in opposition to passengers who are specially-abled. On the other hand, in the approximately 45 minutes of contestation, argument, rage and mood, none of the three harassed passengers (the child and his parents) spoke any irrational phrase.
Soon after this heat from the passengers, DGCA, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation sought a report from Indigo. With the other things that are mentioned above, the airline also stressed that it prides itself for being an organisation that is inclusive, be it for its customers or the employees.