Mumbai:
The New York Times in 2007 published a report alleging former US President Bill Clinton delayed passenger planes by a couple of hours at the Los Angeles airport because he took his own sweet time to get his hair clipped on an Air Force One flight.
If Clinton's haircut sounds like a bizarre reason to delay flights, an Air India (AI) purser's story takes the cake. Or curd, should we say?
The senior purser delayed an AI 188 Toronto-New Delhi flight by 10 minutes on November 26 because the airline refused to yield to his demands of serving him
dahi bhaat (curd rice). He stood adamantly on the aerobridge and refused to enter the plane unless the caterer and airport authorities agreed to serve him his special meal.
"The flight was to leave at 11.50am and the Boeing 737-300ER was still attached to the aerobridge. He stood there arguing with the caterer about his meal -- a request made at the last minute," said an AI crew member. "The airport manager tried to reason with him, but he refused to budge. When the security manager intervened, the purser said he won't let the flight take off unless he was served curd rice."
Fed up with his tantrums, the captain asked the crew to close the doors of the aircraft.
The purser realised his drama won't yield any results and entered the plane. But he continued to trouble the crew inside the plane during the 14-hour journey.
He pretended to be unwell and said he wanted to sleep. He even changed his uniform and wore a lungi to the chagrin of other crew members. "When questioned about his attire, the purser said he was wearing his national dress," a crew member told DNA. "He did not even sleep on the bunker bed meant for the crew. He slept on a first-class seat, which is against the rules. Besides he slept for 9.5 hours instead of the stipulated 5 hours."
The crew heaved a sigh of relief when the flight landed in Delhi. Despite repeated attempts, there was no response from the AI spokesperson, who said he would revert later.
Copyright restricted. Under licence from
www.3dsyndication.com