Air India Allots A ‘Broken’ Seat To Central Minister!

Union agriculture minister and former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his displeasure over the Air India’s services, for being negligent towards seating arrangements and passenger inconvenience.

This would raise concern of the common man over their comfort while travelling in Air India flights.

The Union minister’s dissatisfaction came to light when he posted on X: “Today I had to come from Bhopal to Delhi, inaugurate the Kisan Mela in Pusa, hold a meeting of the Natural Farming Mission in Kurukshetra and discuss with the representatives of the Kisan Organisation in Chandigarh. I had booked a ticket on Air India flight number AI436, I was allotted seat number 8C. I went and sat on the seat, the seat was broken and sunken in. It was uncomfortable to sit.”

Further, he mentioned about his conversation with the airline staff and said that when he asked them why was the seat allotted to him bad, they told him that the management was intimated about it and its ticket should not be sold.

“There is not just one seat but many more. My co-passengers requested me to change my seat and sit on a better seat but why should I trouble another friend for my sake, I decided that I would complete my journey by sitting on this same seat.”

Chouhan said that he was of the opinion that Air India’s service would have improved after being acquired by Tata Group, but that was not the case. The minister said: “I don’t care about sitting discomfort, but it is unethical to make passengers sit on bad and uncomfortable seats after charging them the full amount. Isn’t this cheating the passengers?”

He questioned if Air India would take steps to see that the passengers do not face inconvenience in future or would it continue taking advantage of the passengers’ need to reach their destination early.

Responding to the minister’s post, Air India authorities said: “Dear Sir, we apologize for the inconvenience caused. Please be rest assured that we are looking into this matter carefully to prevent any such occurrences in the future. We would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you, kindly DM us a convenient time to connect.”

If this is the plight of a Union minister, can normal passengers think of a convenient travel on an Air India aircraft?