Opinion: Was IndiGo cabin crew's 'Not Your Servant' outburst justified or 'Customer is always King'?

We Indians are a privileged bunch of citizens who feel entitled to things after paying for the services. Be it an autorickshaw ride or an Ola ride, we think we own the vehicle and driver. Such is our sense of entitlement that every now and then we hear news of an altercation between two parties, one that involves service provider and one that involves the person who paid for the service. Remember those constant fights between residents living in societies and security agencies, we keep hearing in Delhi-NCR? It's no surprise then, we see this sense of privilege in all walks of life. 

A similar incident of sorts was recently reported in-the-air, when a passenger and an air hostess entered into a heated argument over the meal served on the flight. The video of the incident shared by a co-passenger has since gone viral forcing IndiGo to release a statement while India's aviation watchdog DGCA said they are looking into the matter. 

Understanding the issue

On December 16, India's largest airline IndiGo was operating a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to New Delhi under the codeshare agreement. Codeshare allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence. During the flight, the cabin crew was serving meal to passengers, when one of the passengers got into a heated argument with a cabin crew member of the flight.

As per the statement by IndiGo and eyewitness account, the issue started over the meals chosen by certain passengers travelling via a codeshare connection. The passengers initially yelled at one of the cabin crew members when she was serving the meal. Reportedly, the cabin crew member went back to the galley and started crying. Following which, the leader of the flight attendants came and had an altercation with the passenger.

"My crew is crying because of you," the IndiGo air-hostess was heard telling the passenger. The passenger is also heard telling her, "You are a servant of a passenger", to which she responded, "I am an employee and not your servant... I am not your servant." At one point, the passenger said "why are you yelling? Shut up" to the air-hostess, who also asks the former to "shut up", according to the nearly one-minute-long clip that was apparently shot by a passenger in the flight.

Who's at fault?

Prima facie, the cabin crew member seems to be on the right side of the issue, giving a fitting response to the rude passenger. Many social media users have supported the air hostess for standing upto the bullying of the passenger and giving a fitting response. However, there are also few people saying a customer is the king and cabin crew can't treat the passenger with an unprofessional behaviour over a meal, which is a right of the passenger during the flight.

About the clip, Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor in a series of tweets said over the years, he has seen "crew slapped and abused on board flights, called 'servant' and worse". He recalled how passengers badly behave with cabin crew members, especially female cabin crew members.

"I recall an incident some years ago where a new crew, just 19 years old, was slapped by a pax because his meal choice was not on board. I met her the same day, she was inconsolable and said this is not what she signed up for. She quit flying the same day."

Since India is at a nascent stage of the aviation boom with many first time flyers travelling on planes and not trains, people are not yet aware about the role of flight attendants. Serving food is one aspect of their critical duty onboard a flight. A cabin crew team is trained in case of emergencies and many other critical flight safety issues. They are the first line of contact for passengers inside the flight.

Policy for unruly passengers

India, like all major aviation markets, has a policy for unruly passengers, under which, airlines can blacklist a traveller from flying on their airline if any such incident is validated. As per Kapoor, there was no unruly pax policy in India earlier and this incident where the crew was slapped was one of the incidents that led to that to be introduced eventually. He further said that "As I have always said, the customer is always right... Until he (or she) is wrong. Physical or verbal abuse or humiliation is NEVER acceptable."

In 2020, comedian Kunal Kamra was banned from flying for 6 months by IndiGo when he confronted popular TV anchor on one of the flights. Later, other airlines followed the suite to ban him from flying. He challenged the decision in court and was eventually allowed to fly. 

What does IndiGo say?

In a statement, IndiGo said, "We are aware of the incident that took place on flight 6E 12 from Istanbul to Delhi on December 16, 2022. The issue was related to meals chosen by certain passengers travelling via a codeshare connection."

"IndiGo is cognizant of the needs of its customers and it is our constant endeavour to provide a courteous and hassle-free experience to our customers. We are looking into the incident," the airline said in the statement.

With agencies inputs