The altercation between the IndiGo crew member and the passenger was widely shared on social media.
After a video showing an IndiGo crew member arguing with a passenger on board went viral, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Jet Airways, Sanjiv Kapoor, reacted to it and came in support of the air hostess. Now, the CEO has shared more of his thoughts on the incident in an exchange with Twitter users.
Mr Kapoor, in a tweet, had said that “crew are humans too” while highlighting the issues they face including being called a “servant”. “I have seen crew slapped and abused on board flights, called "servant" and worse,” he wrote.
As a user disagreed with the CEO saying that the passenger's version hasn't been heard yet, Mr Kapoor clarified, “I said nothing about the passenger. However we know from the video that another crew member was reduced to tears after interaction with this passenger, and he used the term "servant". Thanks.”
Another user said that Mr Kapoor was sympathising with the crew being the CEO of an airline. To this, Mr Kapoor replied, “So you missed the part where it is stated he made another crew cry? And you missed the use of the word "servant"?”
He added, “For me, that alone speaks volumes. However, don't take it from me, take it from eyewitness accounts.”
Sharing the definition of “servant”, one user said that there wasn't anything problematic in using the word for the flight crew. “We all are servants working for our employer,” the tweet read.
This drew a response from the Jet Airways CEO who reiterated his stance and wrote that justifying the usage of the word was wrong. “You, sir, are then part of the problem. As any reasonable person would agree, the use of the word "servant" and its implications depend on the context in which it is used, **especially in India**. Justifying such usage with a crew in the context it was used, is simply unacceptable.”
In the video, the in-flight crew was seen engaged in a heated argument with a passenger and accusing him of talking to the staff harshly. At one point, the passenger called the airhostess a servant to which she replied, “I am not your servant”.