Flight-fight: Hypocrisy or justice?

Hours after Kunal Karma posted a video of him taunting Arnab Goswami,on Tuesday, it went viral and Mr. Kamra got banned by Indigo Airlines for a period of six months. The government urged other airlines to ban him as well. Union Civil Aviation Minister,Hardeep Singh Puri,said,"Offensivebehaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable and endangers safety of air travellers. We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned" 

On Hardeep’scue, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir declared they had banned Mr. Kamrafrom flying with the airline till further notice. According to a PTI report, Air Asia said that it was waiting for an official notice from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the same and only then would it take action against Mr. Kamra.

Why is the ban on Kunal Kamra being called hypocritical and excessive?

The chain reaction was seen by many as excessive and has triggered a huge debate online, with the controversy quickly becoming one of the top trends on Twitter. Many have called out the airlines on double standards since SpiceJet still hasn’t taken any action against BJP MP Pragya Thakur, who is facing charges in an ongoing terror case, who had held up a flight last month and argued with crew and passengers after refusing to vacate a seat next to the emergency exit despite being on a wheelchair as required under aviation rules. Furthermore, the ban triggered criticism from social media users who recalled how a Republic TV reporter had once similarly heckled opposition's Tejashwi Yadav, of Bihar's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), on board a flight.

Mr Kamra in a statement on Twitter said(size inc),"It's not shocking at all to me that for exercising my right to speech, which falls under Article 19 of our constitution, three airlines have given me a temporary ban from flying. Fact of the matter is that at no point was I disruptive and at no point did I not follow orders of the cabin crew or the captain. At no point did I endanger the safety of any passenger on board, the only damage I caused was to the inflated ego to the 'journalist' Arnab Goswami."

"To my limited knowledge no formal complaint has been made by the crew or Arnab or anyone else taking the flight. Whenever there was an intervention by any member of the crew I complied. If expressing myself to an important public figure, who himself points a camera day in and day out, catching people off guard is a crime, then both of us are criminals," he added.

What is the no-fly list?

After an incident in which Shiv Sena MP,Ravindra Gaikwad, allegedly hit an Air India staffer “25 times” with his slipper over not being given a business class seat in an all-economy plane, several Indian airlines demanded a no-fly list of disruptive passengers.

According to the no-fly list compiled by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), following are the rules and guidelines-

• The airline has to constitute a committee to probe an incident of alleged misbehavior.
•  The rules provide for a three-tier action

Verbal assault: It includes “unruly physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation”(italics) which could lead to a ban of up to 3 months.

Physical assault: “physically abusive behavior (pushing, kicking, hitting, inappropriate touching, sexual harassment)”. Ban could be for 6 months.

Life-threatening behavior: Life-threatening behaviours like “damage to aircraft, or other forms of physical violence such as choking, eye-gouging, murderous assault, attempted or actual breach of the flight crew compartment” (italics). Ban could be for a minimum period of 2 years or more without limit.

National security risk: Barred till the time the person is perceived to be a national security risk by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)

In this case, Mr. Kamra has been punished with a six-month ban or indefinitely, for a verbal commentary made to a passenger to his face.

The airlines “may” impose a ban while it is probing the matter, for a period not exceeding 30 days. Other domestic carriers “will not be bound by the no-fly list of an airline”, implying that they are free to decide whether or not to bar a passenger already banned by one of the airlines for his/her misconduct, unless there were security concerns from the MHA.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri’s advice to other airlines to similarly ban Mr. Kamra is also at variance what the above rules said.

The rules say that an aggrieved passenger can appeal against his ban to an appellate authority, of which an official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation is a member. But in this case the ministry has ordered the ban.

Guidelines for airlines and airport staff:

1. Effort should be made to protect passengers and other personnel against any offence made by unruly passengers.

2. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), including the duties of ground staff, flight crew, airline airport manager and airline central operational control should be established, to deal with unruly passengers while at the airport or on-board the aircraft.

3. Unruly passengers are to be carefully monitored, and if they deem to pose a threat to the safety and security of the flight or the fellow passengers then he/she should be refused to embark on the flight or should be off-loaded if embarked already.

4. Airlines have been asked to establish a mechanism to detect and report an unruly passenger’s behavior at check-in, in the lounges, at boarding gates or any other place in the airport to prevent such passengers from boarding the flight. In case any incident is reported while the aircraft is on the ground then such an incident must be reported immediately in writing and an FIR should be lodged with security agency at the aerodrome.

5. The airline staff must observe any early signs of a potential unruly passenger and must act then and there to avoid the matter from escalating further. However, at no stage should the airline staff or crew member show any discourteous behavior during working of genuine passenger rights.

6. While the flight is mid-air, the crew members should try and defuse a critical situation until it becomes clear that there is no way to resolve the matter through verbal communication and written notice to the passenger.

7. Passengers should be made aware through a display of ‘Conditions of Carriage’ at the airport that any act, which could be considered as an offence or may invite penal action as per law, is an offence if committed on-board an aircraft.

8. The passenger should also be made aware of the fact that if his/her behaviour falls into the unruly behaviour category then he/she will likely be arrested on arrival at the destination, or at any other airport where the pilot may choose to land.

9. Pilots are asked to quickly assess if the cabin crew is able to control the matter or not and accordingly, the pilot may relay this information to the airline’s central control on the ground.

10. If the situation calls for it, airline’s central control shall, after consulting with the pilot, identify the alternate aerodrome for landing the aircraft as quickly as possible.

11. Once the aircraft has landed, the airline representative shall lodge an FIR with the concerned security agency at the airport or, to whom the unruly passenger shall be handed over.