In a disturbing incident, a 20-year-old girl has alleged being harassed by an off-duty pilot during her flight from Bengaluru to Pune earlier this month. The incident happened on October 1, when the college student was returning home on Akasa Air flight Q after finishing a three-month internship in Bengaluru.
The off-duty pilot of the airline forced her to switch seats and move close to him and offered her the alcoholic drink he was consuming, the girl said, according to a report by Times of India.
As per the youngster’s account, her attempts at seeking assistance from both a flight attendant and the airline failed to elicit any action.
Meanwhile, Akasa Air claimed that the airline conducted a detailed investigation into the incident but could not reach a conclusion as it encountered difficulties in reaching the complainant after the alleged event.
However, in a recent update to TOI, the girl claimed that the airline did respond to her social media post after which she narrated the incident again, but no one from Akasa Air reached out to her later.
Passenger’s Account
Recounting her experience, the girl said an off-duty pilot, wearing his airline ID card, initiated a conversation with her, initially offering to assist with her luggage.
Later, she said, the pilot communicated through a flight attendant, requesting her to come to the backside of the plane where the crew was stationed.
“Initially, I thought there was some problem with my check-in luggage. I went there and asked if there was an issue. He started laughing and offered me something in a bottle, claiming it was an alcoholic beverage he was drinking. I refused and returned to my seat with difficulty as he was constantly trying to strike a conversation with me and making me extremely uncomfortable,” the girl said according to the TOI report.
The girl further claimed that the pilot “forced” her to move to a seat near the 16th row where he was seated and had her luggage relocated. Feeling increasingly uneasy, she approached the crew for assistance, who just “giggled as if they approved their co-worker’s advances towards me.”
The pilot’s unruly behavior continued even after the flight landed in Pune, where he asked the girl to accompany him during his stay in the city and forced her to share her mobile number.
“I lodged a complaint with Akasa Air by narrating the incident on its feedback form and also shared my plight on social media, which didn’t get a favourable response. It has been 15 days since my uncomfortable experience but nothing has happened,” the girl said.
Akasa Air’s Statament
As per the report, an Akasa Air spokesperson said that the airline’s social media team tried to reach out to the passenger but her calls went unanswered.
“As soon as we received notification of the post, our social media team attempted to send the passenger a DM (direct message), but her X account is private. Hence, the team decided to respond via a comment. Committed to address the feedback on priority, our head of customer experience then attempted to call the passenger twice. When the call was unanswered, as per protocol the matter was passed on to the head of our compliance team,” the airline said.
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