A former advocate at Supreme Court has accused Jet Airways of mentally harassing his mother and misbehaving with her. Kawaljit Singh Bhatia, on Friday evening, wrote a post on Facebook talking about the treatment his family, especially his elderly mother, had to go through because they had book a flight by Jet Airways.
He claimed that his mother was travelling from New Delhi to Kolkata on 3 May from a Jet Airways flight scheduled at 11.50 a.m. In the post, he gives a detailed account of how his mother was denied entry into the flight because she was late. He mentioned that he had dropped his mother at the airport at 9.45 am, which is well under the reporting time before a flight takes off. His mother had also done a web check-in, so she could save time at the airport. She just had to give her luggage, which Bhatia has mentioned, was under the permissible limit. It was at here that the staff at Jet Airways started misbehaving with her initially, denying her entry and then asking her for an extra amount of Rs. 5,500 for extra baggage.
“I receive a call from my mom that Jet Airways won't let her board the flight because she is late. She sounds hassled. I asked her to request the officials to let her board and if they still don't let her board, to let it pass and that will make a booking in another flight,” wrote Bhatia about the first instance of misbehaviour by the airline company.
He added, “At 10.05 am, I receive a call from my mom again that the staff at Jet Airways is misbehaving with her and that when she requested to be boarded on the flight, they demanded a sum of ₹ 5,500/- on the pretext of extra baggage."
(The weight of the baggage was within permissible limits).
She also told me that after weighing her bag, they threw it back on the floor rudely, telling her that the bags are overweight. (Generally, the person handling the bag takes it and either puts it on the conveyor belt or returns it to the passenger's trolley).”
The uneventful scenario upset the old woman and she fell unconsciousness.
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Kawaljit described the whole scenario saying, “The rude demand for money, the harassment of not being allowed to board the flight, the embarrassment from being shouted at at a public place and people around and gathering around the commotion, the pushing and shoving after being given a boarding pass after paying the money and the pressure unnecessarily created by resorting to pressure tactics, just to squeeze money out of my mom had a cumulative effect of her nervous and psychological break down, blackout and fainting on the airport floor.”
Kawaljit was not with his mother at the time she blacked out and he received a call from the airport about it. As he reached there, he rushed his mother to the doctor who suggested to him that there is a deep cut in the chin area which cannot be stitched up and she will have to go through a surgery.
It is pertinent to note that the Jet Airways staff, which was rushing her to board the flight, did nothing to help. They just stood around my mom who was lying on the floor, bleeding, discussing what would happen now. They were more concerned about who would take the responsibility of a passenger fainting. They were not at all concerned with the fallen passenger's immediate emergency needs. This alone speaks volumes about the manner in which the unfortunate incident was handled. However, it does not end here.
He went on to explain how even after that the flight carrier company was not helpful and in fact created a lot of problems for the family. They charged them extra money for no reason, causing trauma to the whole family.
Last month, cricketer Harbhajan Singh had also tweeted against Jet Airways asking for strict action against the flight company for physically assaulting a woman and a physically-challenged man.
Jet airways responded to the incident. "Jet Airways reaffirms its Guest First philosophy which is founded on principles of service excellence. The airline staff demonstrated the very same principles of concern while accepting the senior guest for boarding, despite the guest reporting late at the check-in counter. Subsequently, the guest proceeded to the boarding gate by herself, where she lost consciousness. She was then taken to the airport medical desk for first aid where investigations revealed her to be a diabetic with low haemoglobin." said Jet Airways spokesperson in a statement.
It added, "The above facts can be corroborated via CCTV footage available with the airport authorities, a copy of which has also been submitted to law enforcement authorities. Jet Airways strongly denies the allegations made in the social post which do not reflect the airline’s service etiquette, standards and the exact nature of developments that transpired on the day."
Picture credit- Facebook post
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