Mumbai: Refusing to de-board an Air Asia flight, the passengers were subjected to unprofessional and rude behavior by airline staff including the Pilot who switched on the plane’s air-conditioning blower on full speed.
As can be seen in the video footage shared by one of the passenger’s on board, the passengers inside the plane are covered in heavy fog which had made the passengers suffocate, PTI reported.
Some women and children started vomiting and crying due to suffocation.
The flight was bound from Kolkata to Bagdora and was delayed for nearly 4.5 hours.
The airline staff then asked the passengers to deboard the plane after the flight captain asked the passengers to de board without giving any explanation.
Indian Oil Corporation executive director (West Bengal) Dipankar Ray, who was also on board complained of very “unprofessional and rude” behaviour from the airline staff.
Speaking of the incident, he said: “The flight was scheduled to depart at 9 am and was initially delayed by 30 minutes. After boarding, we kept sitting inside the aircraft for one-and-a-half hours with no food or water at all.”
Adding that the flight captain then instructed all passengers to deboard without any explanation.
It was “when passengers refused to deboard due to heavy rains outside, the captain put the air-conditioning blower on full blast to hound the passengers out. It created a scary scene as the heavy fog was created inside the plane and it was very suffocating,” Ray said.
The video footage is shared by him on his FB profile, where the passengers can be seen arguing with onboard airline staff to switch off the blower.
“This is the way aviation industry works in India. This #AirAsiaservice was particularly scary… Avoid Air Asia,” Ray said in the post.
When Air Asia was contacted to comment on the incident, it issued a statement accepting the flight was delayed and expressed the company’s regret.
“AirAsia India would like to confirm that flight i5583 from Kolkata to Bagdogra was delayed by 4.5 hours due to a technical requirement. AirAsia regrets the inconvenience caused to guests on account of this disruption and would like to reinstate that the airline always prioritizes safety above all.”
The official statement further added that there was no danger to passengers life when the blower was on as the cool conditioned air being circulated was condensing.
“This is a normal occurrence on-board all aircraft when the air conditioning is operated in high humidity conditions,” the statement said.
The passengers, however, said the airplane provided no food to the passengers on board.
“When we reached the food court, they refused us. There was no communication from AirAsia at all. We had to pay. When we were boarding the flight second time, then they gave us one sandwich and a 250 ml water bottle. This is an unacceptable treatment,” he said.