Would you believe that our National Carrier is handing out free Sauna services? Not so!

But imagine sitting for two hours in summer without fans or air conditioning!

Recently, some  300 passengers on Air India’s flight 317 from Delhi to Mumbai had a terrible aftertaste of Delhi’s sweltering heat. They were forced to undergo a 2-hour journey with no air conditioning on board.
Passengers spoke of the aircraft feeling like a “sauna bath chamber.”

The air conditioning was not working even when passengers boarded the double-deck, wide-bodied Boeing 747. The plane, by the way,  off five hours behind schedule.

Even though the passengers protested,  the crew got the go-ahead from Captain SK Jha to board the gates and the flight took off with no air conditioning.

Media reports say,  a couple travelling with their four-month-old son, who began to get extremely restless as the plane got claustrophobic. When the couple  asked the flight attendant for help, they were told that the crew would handle the situation “if the baby fell unconscious”. Wow, really sensitive and caring,no?

The couple, from Noida, is sending a complaint to Maneesh Sharma, the minister of state for civil aviation. “The air hostesses were rude, uncouth, and discourteous,” said Vijay Goel, the infant’s father.

Monday’s incident comes as a massive embarrassment for the national carrier’s chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani, who just two days ago, wrote a lengthy note to his staff, urging them to ensure that “passengers always have a good experience with Air India”.
One of the flyers, Ritesh Kumar who heads strategy for INX media, said that the vents were blowing hot air, by the time the passengers were seated and the problem only got worse. “When we approached the cabin crew, they kept insisting that everything would be fine,” Kumar said.

The passengers were apparently held hostage by the pilot and his crew! A majority of the passengers insisted on deplaning and even marched up to the doors, leading to a heated argument with the cabin crew. “It was past 4 am when we demanded that we wanted to get off the plane but the captain, who identified himself as SK Jha, ordered that the doors be shut,” Kumar said.

  Air India, Air India’s flight 317, Delhi, environment, health, INX, Noida