Kolkata: Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Saturday slammed IndiGo airlines for the misbehaviour of one of it’s ground staff over a heavy baggage issue. The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist was travelling from Hyderabad to Mumbai, when the incident happened.
She took to social media site Twitter, to vent out her anger over the staff, who according to her was named Ajeetesh. The staff reportedly behaved rudely with the 22-year-old and a airhostess, tried to intervene and stop the argument.
“Sorry to say .. I had a very bad experience when I was flying by 6E 608 flight to Bombay on 4th Nov, the ground staff by name Mr Ajeetesh,” Sindhu wrote on Twitter.
She also further added, “Ground staff (skipper) Mr Ajeetesh behaved very badly and rudely with me. When the air hostess Ms Ashima tried to advise him to behave properly with the passenger (me) but to my surprise he behaved very rudely with her. If this type of people work for a reputed airline like IndiGo, they will spoil their reputation.”
The airline company however had a different story and narrating the incident IndiGo spokesman Ajay Jasra said, “Ms P V Sindhu boarded flight 6E608 Hyd-Mumbai last carrying oversized baggage which was not fitting into overhead bin. Ms Sindhu was informed that it will be moved to cargo hold of aircraft. This is the same policy we follow for all customers. Oversized baggage inside the cabin inconveniences other customers and can also be a safety hazard if it cannot secured properly,” as quoted by the Times of India.
He further defended the ground staff saying, “During the entire conversation, the member of the IndiGo ground operations remained calm, After several requests to her manager, they finally consented to the removal of the bag. We then placed the over-sized baggage in the cargo hold and was handed over to Ms Sindhu on arrival.” He also added, “We are extremely proud of Ms Sindhu’s sporting achievements and are grateful for the laurels she has won for our country. However, safety of our operations is paramount to IndiGo. We hope that Ms Sindhu will appreciate that our colleague was only carrying out his duty in the best interest of a safe and reliable operation.”
Sindhu’s father who was also travelling with her said that the staff had indeed misbehaved with his daughter and did not handle the kitbag with care.
“The ground staff misbehaved with Sindhu while handling her kit bag. Sindhu had requested him to handle it with care as there were racquets inside. But the person behaved rudely. The air hostess tried to interfere but he was also rude to her. One should not behave with a lady like that, so Sindhu tweeted. She was hurt,” concluded Sindhu’s father Ramana.