Over 15,000 passengers were denied boarding or offloaded by domestic carriers last year: report

The incident in which a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines plane has naturally created worries about whether something like that could happen in India. While an incident as violent as that has never happened in India, over 15,000 passengers were denied boarding by Indian carriers last year, reported The Economic Times. The report also said that three out of four such flyers were booked on Jet Airways. [caption id=“attachment_3382560” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The report also said that the ratio of passengers offloaded each year in India is less than the global average. Last year, ten carriers flew 9.98 crore passengers in India, out of which 15,675 were denied boarding or offloaded. Meanwhile, the chief executive of embattled United Airlines unequivocally apologised on Tuesday for an incident in which a passenger was forcefully removed from the plane and bloodied in the process. The apology came amid a torrent of criticism of the carrier’s actions on a Sunday flight and its initial explanations. Passenger David Dao, 69, had refused to be “bumped” from the overbooked flight — an airline practice that has now come under increased scrutiny. “I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologise to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard,” CEO Oscar Munoz had said. “We take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.” The comments were in stark contrast to the company’s initial response, in which it seemed to at least partially blame the passenger, inflaming worldwide outrage. US media had published an email Munoz sent earlier to employees, in which he said the passenger “defied” authorities and “compounded” the incident. “Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this,” the CEO had written. With inputs from AFP