Officer offloaded in UK, govt seeks report

NEW DELHI: A senior bureaucrat alleged “racial discrimination” and “rude behaviour” by the British Airways, which offloaded him and his family from a flight last month because his three-year-old son was crying, prompting Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu to seek a detailed report into the incident.

The family was travelling on the BA flight to Berlin from London on July 23 when the incident reportedly took place.

“I have directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to obtain a detailed report from British Airways on the issue,” the minister tweeted.

The DGCA is the aviation watchdog in the country.

The bureaucrat, in a letter to Prabhu on August 3, alleged that another Indian family, sitting behind them, was also offloaded as they offered biscuits to the child to console him.

The bureaucrat alleged that the crew got the plane (BA 8495) to return to the tarmac, where the security personnel took away their boarding passes .

The customer care service manager did not give reasons for offloading them nor did the management take action against the crew despite lodging a complaint, he claimed.

“We had to make our own arrangements for staying and travelling to Berlin the next day by paying a very hefty amount,” he said, adding that the other Indian family was given tickets for a flight the next day, without any accommodation though.

The bureaucrat is a joint secretary-level officer in the ministry of road transport and highways.