Dubai - Mangalore AI Express Drama : Two Passengers Offloaded in Mumbai

Dubai - Mangalore AI Express Drama : Two Passengers Offloaded in Mumbai
By Naveen Frank, On Board IX 811Daijiworld Media Network
On Board IX811, Jul 31: Two unruly passengers travelling from Mangalore to Dubai by Air India Express IX811 were offloaded at Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji Airport after 45 minutes towards Dubai.
These passengers were sitting on one of the last rows of the aircraft. The captain announced that the flight will be diverted to Mumbai and the passenger handed over to the authorities.
Meanwhile our correspondent who was on the same flight spoke to the flight attendant, who said that the said passenger were agitated because alcohol was not served on this particular flight.
They demanded that they be served liquor which was refused.
The captain finally decided to divert the plane to Mumbai.
Flight Landed at Dubai Airport at 4.30am, UAE time
IX811 finally took off from Mumbai airport at 0230 hrs IST and reached its destination Dubai after a 4 hr 30 minute delay.
What needs to be asked is, was the captain justified in diverting the flight back to India, and that too Mumbai a busy airport.
The flight took off smoothly from Mangalore at aroung 2136 hrs and all was well until about 45 minutes of flying towards its destination Dubai.
The captain made a strange announcement stating that alcohol and food will not be served due to the behaviour of some passengers and the security of the crew, pssengers and athe aircraft was of absolute importance. Not many understood the seriousness of the announcement as there was no commotion nor was there any sign of any argument or raised voices. Another announcement soon followed which suggested that we were heading back to Mumbai to offload the unruly passengers. Only then did all heads turn to the back to see what had actually happened. Again, there was no sign of any verbal fight or anyone showing signs of any agitation. What made the flight attendants to complain to the captain and what made the captain take the ultimate decision to divert the aircraft to Mumbai and have the 2 passengers arrested. The 2 passengers in question were in no position to talk. The flight attendendants were tight lipped except that the 2 men demanded alcohol which was refused. They did not turn physical nor did they raise their voices. Speaking to the passengers closest to the men in question, it was learnt that initially it started with a friendly verbal conversation between the passengers and the flight crew. Somehow the flight crew could not take the constant pestering and hence must have taken a stern stand that further agitated the inibriated passengers. Would it have died down if the cabin crew just ignored them and went on to serve dinner as planned ? Nobody really knows what the passengers talked to the crew that made them approach the captain. Similar incidents are common in many flights. Normally the cabin crew pacify or control the passengers . If it goes out of hand, they normally hand him over to the authorities at the port of call. Why did not the AIE captain do the same ? Why could he not alert the Dubai authorities and hand them over on arrival ? All the other passengers would have reached on time. Why did he decide to turn around and return to India. In fact he took him more time to return and find a landing slot in the busy Mumbai airport . If security was his concern, then he ought to have headed straight to Dubai and land as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, a flight full of passengers with many small children were holed up on the aircraft for 5 hours with no food and water, limited air conditioning on the tarmac, overused toilets and a further 2 hours 30 minute flight to Dubai. Air India Express is duty bound to tell their passengers as to why they took such a drastic step for what seemed to be a simple case of unruly behaviour !