In what was the worst experience for the Indian family, British Airways forced them to deboard the flight because their three-year-old boy was crying. As per the Times of India, a cabin crew with lack of sympathy asked the child and the family to get out of the plane because he was ‘crying’.
It is learnt that the crew initially asked the child to be seated, which made the boy even more scared and after which he started crying loudly. The British Airways London-Berlin flight (BA 8495). which was on its way to take off then returned to the starting point and offloaded the Indian family as well as some other Indians sitting behind them.
However, the concerned person has now lodged a complaint with Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu wherein he has alleged “humiliation and racial behaviour” by the airline. In their response, the British Airways said it does not “tolerate discrimination of any kind”, further adding that a serious investigation is underway.
British Airways crew shouted at my son: You bloody keep quiet otherwise you will be thrown out of the window.
One more reason we need more of our own airlines to swap 70% foriegn airline control of our market @airindiain @jetairways @airvistara@IndiGo6E https://t.co/HcfwqhPVsj
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) August 9, 2018
“We take such claims like this extremely seriously and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We have started a full investigation and are in direct contact with the customer,” a British Airways spokesperson was quoted by Times of India as saying.
But the officer has another story to tell. The concerned person in his letter wrote to Prabhu that “My son got terrified and started crying (inconsolably). Another Indian family sitting behind us offered the child some biscuits to console him. My wife again put the boy on his designated seat and fastened the seat belt even though he kept on crying,”
“The same crew member came again and shouted at my son that ‘you bloody keep quiet otherwise you will be thrown out of the window’ and we would be offloaded. We were petrified,” it added.
People cannot really understand that travelling with small kids is already very stressful but they have no other option other than to control them. The kids feel scared and intimidated because of the confined unknown space and it’s a possibility they might have pain during takeoff and landing in their ears. Since they are small, they are unable to communicate this to their parents and hence they end up crying.
