A television anchor has accused airlines SpiceJet of putting him and his wife through a night-long ordeal only because he complained to them about poor service.
The anchor has lodged a police case against three crew members serving on a Delhi-Mumbai Spice jet flight for alleged misbehaviour and assault.
The Incident
Mumbai-based television sports anchor Karan Lalit Ambardar was travelling to Mumbai from Delhi with his wife on March 1. According to his post on Facebook, Karan opted for a last-minute upgrade to his air ticket, which enabled him to avail complimentary meals on the flight.
However, an argument broke out between the crew on the flight and the anchor after the former refused to serve the couple with the food of his choice, claiming it wasn’t part of their menu on that particular day.
Here’s the account of the incident the anchor posted on Facebook:
As per the post, the couple was detained at the airport upon landing with the crew complaining of misbehaviour from the couple. It was after this that the couple lodged a police complaint against the crew.
However, according to a fresh report in Mumbai Mirror, the couple have lodged yet another complaint against the airlines after allegedly received threats from them post the first complaint.
Whose Fault Was It Anyway?
According to Ambardar, the crew had only one of the three meal options that had been mentioned as part of their upgrade.
“(After) the air hostess said they didn’t have a sandwich — I agreed for the second option, which was a chicken tikka masala with gravy rice. However, the flight attendant returned saying that wasn’t available either. She offered a chicken methi malai instead,” Ambardar told Mid Day.
The sports anchor claims that the crew started misbehaving once he objected to the situation. The couple also allege that two officials at the Mumbai airport detained them for over an hour by the aeroride at Mumbai airport,
According to SpiceJet, however, it was the anchor who started misbehaving and threatened to call the media because he did not get the meal he had ordered.
The airline claims that the menu Amabardar had seen while ordering had changed since they had different meals on different days, and that the particular dishes he wanted were not on the menu on March 1.
According to a statement by SpiceJet, the pilot was informed of the alleged mistreatment and threats. The airlines also claimed that it was the couple themselves who refused to move from the aerobridge in an attempt to delay the airline’s operations.
Social Media Campaign
Meanwhile, the Ambardar has started a social media campaign against SpiceJet, demanding action against the ‘obnoxious’ act.
His post accusing SpiceJet of misbehaviour has attracted more than 20,000 shares, with fellow actor television actor Anuj Sachdeva also endorsing the #BanSpiceJet campaign.
People are now slamming the airline, even asking for a ban on its operations until the issue is resolved.
Karan Ambardar and his wife were harassed by Spice Jet crew. Lets not fly by #spicejet till the action is taken #banspicejet
— Anurag Jhalaria (@anurag_jhalaria) March 5, 2017
However, several co-passengers too have been commenting on the posts, and some corroborated the airline’s version of the story, claiming it was in fact the couple to blame.
The police are currently talking to more passengers on the flight to ascertain what exactly happened.
Feature Image Source: PTI
