Another 'mid-air peeing' incident on New York-Delhi flight

In yet another mid-air peeing incident, a passenger an inebriated state allegedly urinated on his co-passenger on a New York-Delhi American Airlines flight (AA 292) on Sunday night. The flight was coming from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.

The incident, as reported by a news agency, happened after a heated argument between two fellow passengers after the takeoff.

American Airlines recorded the statements of co-passengers on the flight, and then handed over the erring passenger to law enforcement agencies after the flight landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) staff at the airport took the complainant and the alleged accused to the IGIA PS to conduct further legal action. The man was not arrested as a formal complaint was not filed against the accused by Monday. However, as reported by a news agency, now the victim has reportedly lodged a formal complaint against the unruly passenger.

In January this year, the DGCA penalised the Tata group-owned Air India with ₹40 lakh fine for two separate mid-air peeing incidents. The regulator penalised Air India with ₹30 lakh fine and also imposed a fine of ₹3 lakh on the director of its in-flight services for an incident in which a male passenger in an inebriated condition urinated on a woman. The DGCA also suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the flight concerned for three months.

The 34-year-old man, identified as Shankar Mishra, urinated on a 70-year-old female co-passenger and her seat in an inebriated condition, in the business class of a New York-Delhi Air India flight on November 26, 2022. Despite causing major harassment to the woman, and thus committing a crime, no immediate action was allegedly taken against the accused.

In another incident, the DGCA had imposed a financial penalty of ₹10 lakh on Air India for not reporting a similar incident to it, and delaying referring the matter to its Internal Committee, which it said is a violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements. The incident pertained to Air India's December 6 flight (AI-142) from Paris to New Delhi, when a male passenger urinated on the vacant seat of a woman and also on her blanket. Another passenger, who was on the same flight, was also caught smoking in the lavatory.

Separately, last week, an Air India pilot on a Dubai-Delhi flight number AI-915 allegedly allowed a woman friend to enter the cockpit, thus flouting the air safety norms. A formal complaint regarding the incident was filed by an airline crew member, following which the aviation regulator initiated a probe into the incident. As per the complaint, marked to Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson and the aviation regulator, the pilot allegedly took the woman inside the cockpit, and wanted crew members to make her feel "comfortable".