Threatening ground staff at airports may soon ground disruptive flyers

NEW DELHI: The disruptive behaviour of threatening frontline staff with violence on the ground at airports -- and not just onboard aircraft -- could also lead to unruly passengers being put on the no fly list . Airports may soon have display boards warn people against making videos of hapless ground staff. Airline officials are hardly ever found at boarding gates where passengers are venting their ire on long delays or last-minute cancellations, leaving the frontline staff to fend for themselves.

While passengers may soon be reminded of their duties, their rights as consumers will also be better protected. Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu has set up a panel to review the existing civil aviation requirements (CARs of DGCA or rules) to ensure more effective and speedy redressal of two major passenger grievances -- refund of airline tickets to passengers; and facilities to be provided by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation and delays of flights.

Headed by a senior DGCA official, the panel had its first meeting earlier this month to at the earliest revise passenger-centric rules "in line with international best practices." A more consumer-friendly approach is needed "keeping in view the growth of Indian aviation sector."

Accordingly, "airlines were advised to analyse complaint/grievance resolution data of past six months and based on (that recommend) amendments to reduce passenger grievances," said people in the know. Airlines have been directed to review consumer grievance-related data of at least the last six months and give suggestions within seven working days on the CARs related to the two issues.

Other stakeholders like airports, IATA and Federation of Indian Airlines have also been asked to send suggestions "based on international best practices and their experiences."

Some causes of passenger grievances were identified that need to be tackled. For instance, "smaller airports do not have eateries or canteens making it difficult to provide meals or refreshments in case of flight delay and cancellations," they said.

Regarding ensuring frontline staff safety, the panel has decided: "Ground staff must be adequately protected from the angry passengers in case of flight disruptions. Possible solutions like display of notices at the counters may be explored.... Proper display at airports prohibiting the videography of airline/airport staff and (warning against) unruly behaviour by passengers."

It is learnt the panel will examine options like extending unruly behaviour -- which can put passengers on no fly list -- from at present on board aircraft to at the airport too. Which means, if angry passengers threaten the hapless staff at boarding gate the same may be seen as disruptive behaviour with subsequent action of not being able to fly for some period of time depending on the level of their misbehaviour, said people in the know.

With Indian now having two financially strong airlines -- Tata's Air India group and IndiGo -- govt has turned its focus on passenger rights. "Before Tata's took over AI and AI Express in Feb 2022, except IndiGo all other airlines were struggling to survive. So prior to Covid, any conversation with most airlines for better grievance redressal would typically get this line: 'if you implement this, we will shut down'," said people in the know. Now with two strong players and some showing the potential to eventually becoming significant airlines, consumer rights are finally back in focus.