Airline Staff Was Allegedly Rude To Passengers After Woman Complained Of Suffocation

An Air India flight with 158 passengers on board to the Indian city of Mumbai returned to the terminal from the runway after a passenger complained of suffocation due to an air-conditioning glitch in the flight. The incident took place at the Dubai international airport on Sunday evening.

Speaking to local daily the Mid-Day, a passenger said the flight returned to the terminal after "a woman complained of suffocation."

Some passengers, however, felt the in-flight staff was non-cooperative and alleged that they threatened the passengers for taking video of the incident

"No announcement was made when the flight returned from the runway though. They were very rude. Passengers, who were clicking pictures and recording videos, were forced to delete them. The staff had no courtesy to inform us about their course of action. However, they were quick to threaten us saying they would call the police if we didn't delete the pictures and videos," a passenger told the local daily in a telephonic conversation from the airport.

The flight took off a while later, however, the ACs weren't working. The passenger told the daily that the staff said "it would work once the flight takes off."

A spokesperson for the airline said, "None of them except one passenger complained of suffocation. The flight was returned from the runway and the passenger was off-loaded. We will get in touch with our technical staff to ascertain if the AC was working."

The spokesperson added that photography and videography onboard a flight was against the guidelines of Director General of Civil Aviation manuals.