The jokes just keep flying, so to speak, over what the media has gleefully nicknamed “Pee-Gate.” What’s the difference between the old Air India and the new Air India,” asks one humorist. “In the old one, you were merely pissed off. Now you are pissed on,” is the instant reply.
One meme has an Air India hostess going through the regular pre-flight announcement but with a twist. “In case of an increase in bladder pressure, adult diapers will deploy from the compartments above you,” declares the starchy looking air hostess. Another meme artist offered this wordplay: “Have a Pissfull Flight.” Then, a Twitter user said: “Only three airlines offer onboard showers: Etihad Airways, Emirates Airline and Air India.” (Emirates and Etihad do have showers for first-class passengers).
The jokesters and meme artists have gone into high gear over two shocking incidents in which drunken male passengers unzipped themselves on international flights and urinated in the cabin. One relieved himself on a 70-year-old female business class co-passenger on a New York-Delhi flight, soaking her clothes and bag. The second man urinated on the blanket of a female passenger on a Paris-Delhi flight while she was away from her seat.
Air India, which is seeking to revamp its shoddy performance reputation after being sold to the Tata Group last year, has been caught with its pants down in the wake of the urination incidents that occurred late last year but only came to light a few days ago.
After initially merely barring Shankar Mishra, the Wells Fargo India vice-president who urinated on his fellow passenger from flying for 30 days, the airline’s now launching belated efforts at damage control and issuing guidelines to staff. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also issued detailed guidelines to air crew to prevent such situations.
Wells Fargo, a leading US financial services company, said Friday it has now “terminated” Mishra. But even Mishra’s dismissal prompted jokes. “He wasn’t sacked,” said twitter user, saying instead: “The bank pissed him off.”
It’s not going to be easy for Air India to repair its image, judging from the public uproar over its extraordinary handling of the incidents (trending on Twitter under #AirIndiaHorror). The pilot of the plane allegedly “vetoed” giving the elderly lady a vacant seat in first class, decreeing she should remain in her urine-soaked seat. Later, the crew allowed her to sit in the uncomfortable “jump” seat normally occupied by flight attendants during take-offs and landings.
There has been no official explanation yet from the airline of why the police were not called in over either of the peeing incidents.
In the Mishra incident, the crew reportedly believed that because he had apologised to the victim before they landed (the victim says in her complaint to the airline said she was confronted by a weeping Mishra begging her not to pursue the matter) the matter stood closed. There has been no explanation yet about why the incident had not been recorded in the flight register.
Twitter users also noted the different punishments meted out to comedian Kunal Kamra who harangued Arnab Goswami on an IndiGo flight over his and Air India’s response to Mishra’s actions.
“For mocking Arnab Goswami on Indigo flight, (comedian) @kunalkamra88 got 6 months flying ban. And for peeing on lady on Air India flight, pisser gets 30-day ban,” tweeted social activist Harmeet Kaur. Kamra also noted the differing treatment, observing: “I got 6 months which was reduced to 3 months because Arnab pissed in his pants.”
Air India’s new boss, Campbell Wilson, has sent out a stern note to staff stating that any untoward incidents must be reported immediately to airline bosses and authorities. "Most importantly is that, if an incident on our aircraft involves improper behaviour of such magnitude, we must report it to authorities at the earliest opportunity,” the note decreed.
But that’s clearly not enough. “Shame on you Air India. Drunk man pees on woman in business class of Air India US flight, walks off scot-free,” said film-maker Harini Calamur.
Twitter users said that Indians, men in particular, are particularly badly behaved when the liquor is free flowing on flights. “Free booze is the drinking Indian male’s idea of nirvana.” It added that getting drunk on free liquor represented, “the licence to misbehave.”
Police have issued an arrest warrant for Mishra on charges of “outraging the modesty of a woman” and “committing an obscene act in a public place” and are searching for him. In the meantime, Mishra’s lawyers have issued a statement saying that by allowing the accused to have her clothes and bags cleaned at his expense “the lady in her message has clearly condoned the alleged act” and that her complaint to Air India was to obtain “adequate compensation.”
Some Air India old-timers noted that a decades-old piece of light airline humour now had taken on new relevance. Twitter users reposted an old poster from the airline’s glory days announcing the start of Air India’s Brussels flights. It had the Air India’s maharajah mascot holding an umbrella over his head to ward off the shower from the city’s famous Mannequin Pis.
At a more serious level, one observer noted: “Tatas will have to manage all this negative publicity.”
Some airline industry observers suggested that the airline should drop its decades-old name Air India because it conjures up negative impressions. Instead, they said it should instead be renamed Vistara, the seven-year-old full-service airline that was the product of partnership between the Tatas and Singapore Airlines.
But social media users already are already one step ahead on this possibility. Said one: “Tata group plans to operate a separate airline for drunks. It will be called Pisstara.”