A passenger attacked a pilot. How are airlines expected to respond?

How are airlines supposed to respond to incidents of unruly passenger behaviour?

The airline should first inform the passengers concerned that in case their behaviour is deemed unruly as per the guidelines, they could be arrested.

Unruly behaviour includes (but is not limited to): consuming liquor or drugs resulting in unruly behaviour; smoking; not obeying the pilot’s instructions; using threatening or abusive language against crew or other passengers; physically threatening and abusive behaviour; intentionally interfering with discharge of duties by the crew; and endangering the safety of the aircraft and those on board.

In the incident that took place at Delhi’s IGI Airport on Sunday, the aircraft was still on ground, so the passenger was handed over to airport security immediately. In cases of unruly behaviour in the air, the pilot is required to quickly assess if the cabin crew can control the unruly passenger, and accordingly inform the airline’s central control on the ground.

If the pilots and the airline’s central control believe that the unruly passenger cannot be brought under control by the cabin crew, they must land as soon as possible at the nearest available airport. “Upon landing…, airline representative shall lodge FIR (First Information Report) with the concerned security agency at aerodrome, to whom, the unruly passenger shall be handed over,” the rules state.

What is the procedure to be followed after the incident is over?

When an airline receives a complaint of unruly passenger behaviour from the pilot-in-command, it must refer the complaint to an internal committee, which must include (i) a retired district and sessions judge as chairman, (ii) a representative of a different airline and, (iii) a representative of a passengers’ association, or consumer association, or a retired officer of a consumer disputes redressal forum.

The internal committee is required to decide the matter within 30 days, along with the categorisation of the incident in one of three defined category levels. The committee shall also decide the duration for which the unruly passenger will be banned from flying. The committee’s decision shall be binding on the airline.

And what are the category levels of disruptive passenger behaviour?

The levels define behaviour ranging from verbal harassment to murderous assault.

Level 1: Unruly behaviour, including physical gestures, verbal harassment, and unruly inebriation.

Level 2: Physically abusive behaviour, including pushing, kicking, hitting, and grabbing or inappropriate touching or sexual harassment.

Level 3: Life-threatening behaviour, including damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence such as choking, eye gouging, murderous assault, and attempted or actual breach of flight crew compartment.

What penalties can unruly behaviour by a flight passenger attract?

The airline can ban the unruly passenger for up to 30 days immediately after the incident.

“Pending decision of the Internal Committee, the concerned airline may ban such unruly passenger from flying, but such period may not exceed a period of 30 days… In case the Internal Committee fails to take a decision in 30 days, the passenger will be free to fly,” the rules say.

Airlines are required to maintain a database of unruly passengers and share it with the DGCA and other airlines. The DGCA maintains a No-Fly List based on the data shared by carriers.

In addition to the airline on whose aircraft the incident occurred, other carriers also have the option of banning such passengers from flying for varying durations based on offence levels. For Level 1 and 2 offences, the ban on flying can extend to three months and six months respectively. For a Level 3 offence, the minimum ban should be for 2 years, with no upper limit.

An individual who is banned from flying can appeal within 60 days to an Appellate Committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and headed by a retired judge of a High Court. An appeal against the appellate panel’s decision shall be made to a High Court.

What has been the DGCA’s message to airlines?

In April, the DGCA said that it had noticed incidents of smoking in aircraft, consumption of liquor resulting in unruly passenger behaviour, altercations between passengers, and incidents of inappropriate touching or sexual harassment by passengers “wherein post holders, pilots and cabin crew members have failed to take appropriate actions”.

The regulator underlined that norms must be followed, and advised the heads of operations of all airlines to sensitise pilots, cabin crew, and other concerned officials on handling unruly passengers. Training programmes should be held to ensure “effective monitoring, maintenance of good order and discipline on board the aircraft so that safety of aircraft operations is not jeopardised in any manner”, the DGCA said.

Airline personnel should also “carefully monitor” the behaviour of passengers who are “likely to be unruly” and, if deemed as posing a threat to flight safety or safety of crew and other passengers, they should not be taken on board.

“All airlines shall establish mechanism to detect and report unruly passenger behaviour at check-in, in the lounges, at the boarding gate or any other place in the terminal building in order to prevent such passengers from boarding,” the rules state.

The rules note that unruly passenger behaviour could stem from “an event of unsatisfactory service/ condition or effect of a series of such events that build up” (which appears to have happened in the recent case in Delhi), and state that in such cases, airline staff should watch out for early signs of “potential unruly behaviour”.

“Airlines shall focus and act on these early signs, rather than dealing exclusively with escalated events. At no stage, the airline staff/ crew member shall show discourteous behaviour during redressal of genuine passenger rights,” the rules say.