Airline offloads female cancer patient after she fails to put her bag in overhead cabin
New Delhi, February 5: A female cancer patient who had recently undergone surgery was allegedly offloaded from an American Airlines flight bound for New York at Delhi airport after she sought assistance from a flight attendant to keep her handbag in the overhead cabin.
The incident was reported on January 30, and it came to light after a traveller from the United States, identified as Meenakshi Sengupta, lodged a complaint against the flight attendants, accusing them of refusing to assist her in putting the handbag weighing more than 5 pounds in the overhead cabin because she was unable to do so due to weak limbs.
"I was also wearing a brace which was visible to everyone and they would know that I have some discomfort...because I CANNOT carry any weight in my hands at all and I'm weak from the surgery and don't need to strain myself by walking a lot," Meenakshi Sengupta said in her complaint to the Delhi Police and the Civil Air.
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"The ground staff was very supportive and helped me get into the aircraft and put my handbag on the side of the seat. Once inside the flight, I had a conversation with the air hostess and I explained my health condition to them...None of them mentioned about putting my handbag away. After the flight was about to take off, cabin lights were dimmed. At that time an air hostess came to put my hand bag in the overhead compartment. I requested her to help me put it but she refused to do so and told me it's not her job to do it," she added.
Sengupta went on to say that she "repeatedly" asked her to help, but she rudely declined and told her to do it on her own before walking away.
"She was extremely rude and arrogant with her words," Sengupta alleged. She further added that when she went to complain about the incident the aircraft members were "largely indifferent" and told her that they did not want to interfere at all.
"They said that if I'm so uncomfortable I should just de-board the flight. They were collective in their decision to deboard me," Sengupta added.
The incident also went viral on social media, with people urging the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to take action.
Meanwhile, India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has taken notice of the situation and demanded that American Airlines submit its report.
According to the airline's official statement, its Customer Relations team has contacted Sengupta to refund the unused portion of her ticket.
"On Jan. 30, prior to the departure of American Airlines flight 293 from Delhi (DEL) to New York (JFK), a disruptive customer was removed from the aircraft for failure to follow crew member instructions. Our Customer Relations team has reached out to the customer to refund the unused portion of their ticket," the airline said. It further added that a probe into the matter is underway.
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- ANI
