K Srinivasan
RECENTLY Gulf News reported a development that is interesting and worth emulating, perhaps the only bit of good news from Turkiye in the recent past. According to the report, “Turkey is cracking down on impatient flyers with a new travel rule that fines passengers up to 2,603 lira (about $70 or Dh255) for standing up or opening overhead bins before the plane has come to a complete stop.”
The report also quoted International Air Transport Association (IATA). “According to IATA, failing to follow crew instructions remains the most common form of unruly passenger behaviour worldwide. As reported by The New York Times, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can impose fines of up to $37,000 per violation and may even pursue jail time in more serious cases,” it said.
Everyone is in hurry
India is no different. Almost everyone seems to be in a hurry to get onto an aircraft and in an equal frenzy to get off on landing. The Gulf News report, quoting NDTV, said, “ The problem is all too common in India, where passengers often leap from their seats the moment the aircraft touches down, leading to crowded aisles and onboard chaos. While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) does enforce regulations against serious unruly behaviour, minor infractions – such as standing during taxiing – are rarely penalised, allowing the trend to persist largely unchecked.”
The problem is how to identify the defaulters when there are close to two dozen people jumping out of their seats all at the same time and opening the overhead bins. One of the suggestions made to aircraft manufacturers is to work out a process where overhead bins can be locked, like toilets, during turbulence and for takeoff and landing. Engineers say it is easily implementable and will also serve from the danger of thieves doing off with stuff from the overhead bins during a flight.
On May 17 this year, Rediff reported, quoting a PTI report, about “a Chinese national, suspected to be a member of an organised global in-flight theft syndicate, has been arrested for allegedly stealing debit and credit cards from fellow passengers during a flight from Hong Kong to New Delhi, the police said on Saturday. The accused, 30-year-old Benlai Pan, was arrested upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi following complaints from multiple passengers aboard Air India flight AI-315.”
Targeting senior citizens Just one year back on May 14, 2024, Hindustan Times reported that “a 40- year old man (who) allegedly booked more than 200 flights over the past year under his dead brother’s name, stole jewellery and cash worth crores from his co-passengers cabin baggage and passed them onto a jewelers in west Delhi, police said on Monday, after arresting the prime suspect and his aide and cracking down on the elaborate operation. The suspect, Rajesh Kapoor, travelled for more than 110 days, taking more than 200 trips in that time, with Chandigarh and Hyderabad among his top destinations. Most often, he took round trips that departed from Delhi, travelled on premium domestic airlines, and targeted senior citizens.’’
It may be worthwhile for airlines to seriously consider locking overhead bins 15-minute after an aircraft achieves cruising height simply to avoid the pitfall of lost jewellery and passengers in a hurry to deplane. But some regulatory consensus has arrived on moving forward in this direction. It may be worth the while for India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation to follow the Turkish model of fining offenders. A good start would be to make this “don’t do this” a part of the announcement at the start and end of a flight.
