Indigo Under Fire From Parliamentary Panel

New Delhi: In a strongly worded report a Parliamentary Standing Committee has condemned the recent incident when a passenger was manhandled by Indigo staff, adding that airlines need to become passenger friendly and its staff should learn to say "please" and "Thank you".

"The Committee noted that recently there were many incidents of manhandling, discourteous and rude behavior by airlines staff, both ground staff and cabin crew. Some of them were reported in the media and a large number of them went unreported. While narrating some of the incidents of misbehavior in airlines, especially in Indigo, majority of the Members opined that the attitude of airlines staff is very condescending, often unco-operative and on many occasions, downright rude."

The 26-page report "Issues related to improving consumers' satisfaction of airlines" was done after consulting with Civil Aviation officials and various industry stakeholders. The Committee said that merely taking strictest action against the employees does not absolve the airline of its guilt of the incident.

"The Committee observes that the problems affecting the airlines are not personal; it is institutional. An institution like Indigo has to develop a consumer friendly approach in dealing with their passengers. The Committee believes that being a leader in market share, Indigo needs to look inward and find out the reasons for the discourteous attitude and rude and indifferent behavior of their employees, whether it is their cabin crew or the ground staff. The Committee emphasizes that the arrogant behavior of employees should stop."

The Committee had detailed interaction with the CEOs of various airlines on various trainings imparted to different categories of officials and employees. The Members of the Committee unanimously emphasized upon the need for providing proper training to the airlines staff especially on soft skills and passenger handling

"The crew should be trained to be more polite than saying ‘please' or ‘thank you'. The passengers expect a civilized behavior from the cabin crew and the ground staff as the salaries to the cabin crew and ground staff are paid from the income earned from the passengers," the report added. (IANS)