Air India to review its in-flight liquor policy following Pee-Gate furore

Drunk passengers causing ruckus mid-air is not new. In fact, within days of pee-gate incident became national news, another case of drunk man urinating in an Air India flight wetting a female passenger’s blanket surfaced

| Updated: 07 January, 2023 5:50 pm IST
Image for representational purpose

In the aftermath of the pee-gate incident in which a man in an inebriated state urinated on a fellow passenger onboard an Air India flight, the airline owned by TATA has decided to review its in-flight liquor policy.  On November 26, Shankar Mishra, allegedly drunk, unzipped and urinated on an elderly woman traveling in the Business Class of New York-Delhi flight. The incident has resulted in much embarrassment for airline and has triggered a debate on whether such unruly behaviour by passengers can be curbed if liquor service was banned or controlled.

In a statement released by Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director, Air India  said that as a responsible airline brand, it has initiated the “review of the airline policy on service of alcohol in flight.”

In her complaint to the Police, the aggrieved woman said, “The crew did not show proper judgement on how much alcohol should be served to the passenger.”

Air India is also “commencing a comprehensive education program to strengthen crew’s awareness of and compliance with policies on the handling of incidents and unruly passengers, and to better equip crew to empathetically assist those affected.”

It is also reviewing “the meeting frequency of the DGCA-prescribed “Internal Committee”, tasked with assessing incidents so that cases are assessed and decisions reached in a more timely manner,” the statement further added.

Drunk passengers causing ruckus mid-air is not new. In fact, within days of pee-gate incident, another case of drunk man urinating in flight wetting a female passenger’s blanket surfaced. The incident took place on Paris-Delhi flight. Since, the passenger had given a written apology, no penal action was taken.

In July, 2022 an inebriated passenger aboard an Air India flight from Delhi to London assaulted a male flight attendant, leaving him with grave injuries on his ear and forehead for stopping him and his friends from drinking uncontrollably.

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