Latecomer woman passenger slaps airline staffer in Patna

In yet another case of high-handedness, a woman passenger reportedly slapped a Kingfisher staff after she was not allowed to board the airlines Patna-Mumbai flight (IT 3571) as she had reported after the closure of the boarding counter.

The flight was to have taken off at 2:50 pm, while the woman passenger arrived at the airport around 2:30 pm.

“Enraged over the denial to board the flight, she created a ruckus and hurled choicest abuse on the Kingfisher staff,” said an eyewitness.

Amid the bedlam, CISF personnel had to be brought in who helped cool down the frayed tempers. A compromise formula was worked out and the woman passenger was handed over another ticket on the same flight for December 14. “Neither re-booking charges (Rs 750) nor difference of fair (DF)  (Rs 1,200) were charged from the infuriated passenger,” said sources.

A senior manager of Kingfisher Airlines Suddho Ghosh played down the matter and denied slapping incident. “There was a verbal clash between the passenger and the staff (named Tridip) manning the counter. But the boys who had come to the airport to see off the woman, pulled the collar of Tridip in a fit of rage,” Ghosh, after much persuasion, told Deccan Herald on Monday, refusing to give any further details about the incident or the woman passenger.

When asked specifically that if someone gets physical, the airline will issue another ticket (out of fear) without charging re-booking or DF charges, Ghosh said: “This was an exceptional case. We gave her the benefit of the doubt as she was late by barely few minutes.”

Recently, a physician Dr Amit Kumar was handed over to the airport police after he too had assaulted one Babloo of Indigo airlines when he (the doctor) was denied permission to board the aircraft for arriving late.

Earlier, in yet another shameful incident of high-handedness, the then Union minister from Bihar Akhilesh Prasad Singh had slapped station manager of Kingfisher airlines Sagar Nath Das at Patna airport in November 2008 after the “VIP” was not accommodated on the Kolkata-bound flight.