In a shocking incident that went viral on social media, a woman suffered a panic attack and was seen lying on the floor near the boarding gate inside Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, after the Air India airlines’ staff allegedly ‘denied’ their request to board the flight claiming that she was late.
Air India claimed that three passengers had reported after the boarding gates were closed for a flight from Delhi airport even after their airport staff kept calling them to report before closure.
The incident was reported at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport Air where the passengers were scheduled to board an Air India Flight 823 on May 5. The flight was scheduled for 4.45 am.
The video was shared on Instagram by user Vipul Bhimani, who was on his way to catch an Air India flight accompanied by his aunt and cousin. In a post along with the video, he mentioned that they were three people at the airport and there were some technical issues at the security check-in point and he reached the boarding gate at 4.27 am.
“Additionally, we had a heart and diabetic lady patient with us. Knowing the situation, we already communicated Air-India staff to help us in check-in due to technical issues going on at the check-in point. They strictly denied us any assistance by saying the security check-in issue is none of our business,” he mentioned in the post.
He further added that they had made check-in successfully.
“We called Air-India staff again to inform them that we have cleared check-in and we are moving towards gate 32B but we will be late by five minutes as we were having a heart and diabetic patient with us and she can’t run. My cousin reached the boarding gate within two min and I reached after him with my aunt,” he mentioned.
“They literally closed gates for us along with other passengers like us even after we intimated them (the plane was to fly after 30 minutes). My cousin had his final year VIVA on the same day which he missed due to missing the flight,” he said in the post.
“My aunt got anxious which turned into a panic attack, and she fainted there on the spot. We asked for a medical emergency but instead of that a staff called the security and asked them to leave us at the exit gate,” he said.
Meanwhile, responding to the allegations, the Air India spokesperson said that three passengers had reported after the boarding gates were closed for a flight from Delhi airport even after their airport staff kept calling them to report before closure.
“One of them was seen lying on the floor near the boarding gate. A doctor and CISF personnel was called by our staff immediately to help her, but the passenger felt better and declined any medical or wheelchair assistance after the doctor had reached the spot,” the spokesperson said.
Passenger safety and comfort come first for Air India. However, they have to abide by strictures laid down by regulatory authorities related to flight operations. They could not delay the flight for these three passengers, who reported late, especially when all other passengers had boarded on time, he added.