Air India Responds To Viral Video Of Female Passenger Suffering Panic Attack; Calls It Misleading
According to the viral video, a female passenger suffered a panic attack and fainted after being denied boarding by the staff of Air India for being late.
A video doing rounds on the social media circuit shows a woman left unattended by Air India staff after she suffered a panic attack. According to the video, a female passenger suffered a panic attack and fainted after being denied boarding by the staff of Air India for being late.
The video shot on the phone of a fellow passenger shows a middle-aged woman lying on the floor, breathing heavily, near the boarding gates of the Delhi airport.
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The woman's relatives have alleged that the Air India staff failed to assist her, despite her deteriorating medical condition.
After the video went viral, people shared their 'horrible' experiences with the airlines. To put an end to the social media buzz around their brand, Air India has released a statement.
Reuters
What does the Air India statement claim?
Denying 'all charges' and 'accusations,' the airline, in an official account, has called the video "misleading" and said a "doctor and a CISF personnel were called immediately" by the staff.
Air India, in their statement, claimed the "passenger started feeling better when the doctor arrived on the spot and declined any medical or wheelchair assistance."
#FlyAI : Air India statement on Delhi Airport Video . pic.twitter.com/mHgUkWk13p
¡ª Air India (@airindiain) May 11, 2022
"It (the video) conveys a misleading image of Air India being apathetic towards a passenger who is seen lying near the gate. Few publications and journalists have posted the video without checking the factual veracity and details from our side. We are dismayed to see this biased interpretation¡".
The incident occurred at 4.45 am at Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport on May 5.
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The video was shared on Instagram by user Vipul Bhimani, who was catching an Air India flight accompanied by his aunt and cousin.
In a post along with the video, he mentioned that they were three people at the airport and there were some technical issues at the security check-in point, and he reached the boarding gate at 4.27 am.
"Additionally, we had a heart and diabetic lady patient with us. Knowing the situation, we already communicated Air-India staff to help us check in due to technical issues at the check-in point. They strictly denied us any assistance by saying the security check-in issue is none of our business," he mentioned in the post.
He further added that they had made check-in successfully.
"We called Air-India staff again to inform them that we have cleared check-in and are moving towards gate 32B, but we will be late by five minutes as we had a heart and diabetic patient with us and she can't run. My cousin reached the boarding gate within two min, and I reached after him with my aunt," he mentioned.
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"They literally closed gates for us and other passengers like us even after we intimated them (the plane was to fly after 30 minutes). My cousin had his final year VIVA on the same day which he missed due to missing the flight," he said in the post.
"My aunt got anxious, which turned into a panic attack, and she fainted there on the spot. We asked for a medical emergency, but instead of that, staff called the security and asked them to leave us at the exit gate," he said.
This incident comes just a few days after IndiGo Airlines got embroiled in controversy and drew flak for not allowing a child with special needs to board a flight at the Ranchi airport.
airport ranchi indigo
The airline had claimed the child posed a threat to other passengers' safety.
(With agency inputs)
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