According to the victim, the staff did not pay enough attention to his plight on the flight. Indian aviation authorities have issued a warning to Air India for mishandling the incident.
The Indian airline Air India has found itself in the middle of a special scandal.
The company’s two separate intercontinental flights have had incidents in the space of a couple of months where a male passenger has urinated on a female passenger in the cabin.
The incident that received more attention happened on November 26 on a flight from New York to Delhi, when an intoxicated businessman urinated on an elderly woman in business class.
The woman had had to sit for a long time in her seat wet from urine, even if there were free seats in business class. Air India did not file a report with the Delhi airport police after the incident.
Indian aviation authorities issued a warning to Air India this week for failing to report the incident in time.
Indian conglomerate Tata Group owns Air India. The Times of India magazine (you are switching to another service) says that the woman had written a letter of complaint to the chairman of the board of the Tata Group.
According to the newspaper, the victim said in his letter that his clothes, shoes and bag were completely covered in urine and that the flight attendant checked the situation and sprayed the bag with disinfectant.
The company admits that it acted poorly
Air India today announced on Saturday that it has suspended one pilot and four cabin crew members pending an investigation into the incident.
– Air India admits that it could have handled this matter better both in the air and on the ground. The company is taking measures, the airline’s CEO Campbell Wilson said in a press release, according to news agency Reuters.
Among other things, Air India intends to review its practices related to the serving of alcohol on flights.
Indian media reported on Saturday that the suspect has been arrested. He worked in management positions in the Mumbai office of the American banking company Wells Fargo. The company announced on Friday that the man has been fired for his actions.
A similar incident took place on Air India’s second flight from Paris to Delhi in December, where a male passenger suspected of being intoxicated urinated on a woman’s blanket in the cabin, says an Indian news channel NDTV (you switch to another service).
In the December case, the pilot reported the incident to Delhi airport air traffic control. Security forces caught the perpetrator after the plane landed in Delhi.
According to NDTV, the perpetrator and the victim came to an agreement, so no police investigation was initiated into the incident.
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Sources: AFP, Reuters