Despite increased awareness and deterrent punishments, airlines had to place 37 passengers on no-fly list till July 15 this year following unruly behaviour on board the flight. According to data available with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, 66 passengers were put on the no-fly list in 2021 and 63 in 2022 based on the recommendations of airlines’ internal committees constituted under the provision of the Civil Aviation (Requirement) on unruly passengers.
Earlier, the majority of passengers was placed on no-fly list on account of violations related to wearing masks on board during the COVID-19 period. However, most of the latest cases were related to non-compliance with instructions of the crew, with offences ranging from urinating on co-passengers under the influence of alcohol to verbally abusing the crew for requesting to keep the decorum. According to airline officials, unruly behaviour on board flight is steadily increasing.
Among the airlines, IndiGo and Air India maintain a relatively long list of no-flyers. In 2022, as many as 46 passengers were placed on the no-fly list by IndiGo, whereas Air India put 27 passengers on the list this year till July 15. Since both these airlines account for the majority of operations in the country, they eventually end up with a long list of no-flyers, said industry insiders.
“But if one looks deeper into the issue, more such cases have been reported on domestic routes inside the country and U.S.-Europe routes. The unruly behaviour is significantly low on West Asian routes. But it doesn’t mean that no such cases were reported on Gulf routes. On West Asian routes, expatriates are at risk of losing job or being denied visa in case the offence draws local police case and subsequently court battles. Further, a good number of airlines would tend to ignore or not report minor offences as each passenger is a potential customer of the airline for a long period,” said a senior airline officer.
Farzeen Majeed, a Youth Congress (YC) worker from Kannur in Kerala who was barred from flying for two weeks by IndiGo airline in connection with an on-board protest in 2022, along with another YC worker and CPI(M) central committee member E.P. Jayarajan, said, “We expected a six-month ban as the protest was against the Chief Minister of a State. But, the airline and the retired district judge who chaired the proceedings showed leniency towards us when we (YC workers) tendered an apology,” said Mr. Majeed, a schoolteacher.
In fact, he was suspended from service for six months in connection with the incident and the punishment by the State government was more severe than airline, he says. On the other hand, Mr. Jayarajan, who was slapped with a three-week travel ban by IndiGo, has boycotted the airline since then accusing that he was punished without taking note of his views.
