Mumbai/Raipur: Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Monday said actor-singer Aditya Narayan misbehaved with its staff at Raipur airport but later apologized.
The incident occurred on Sunday, when Narayan, traveling on Raipur-Mumbai IndiGo flight 6E-258, used "unparliamentary language" with a female staff member of the airline.
IndiGo came out with its version after a video emerged showing Narayan engaged in an argument with its staff members at Raipur airport.
The verbal altercation was triggered after Narayan was asked to pay for carrying excess baggage on-board.
The actor-singer was traveling with a group and was allegedly carrying excess baggage of 40 kg -- well above the free prescribed limit of 15 kg.
According to the airline, Narayan was asked to pay Rs 13,000 for the excess baggage, which he refused and said that he will not pay more than Rs 10,000.
"He refused to pay... and also used unparliamentary language with a female staff member," Ajay Jasra, director Corporate Communications, IndiGo Airlines, told IANS in New Delhi.
"Narayan was informed that if he continues to misbehave then he will not be allowed to travel. Later, passenger Narayan apologized to the ground staff and thereafter was given his boarding card."
However, Sunday's alleged incident involving the actor-singer does not comes under the purview of the current mechanism to deal with unruly passengers, as it occurred at the airport premises and not on-board the aircraft.
Currently, on-board unruly behavior has been divided into three categories: Level 1 -- unruly behavior (verbal); Level 2 -- unruly behavior (physical); and Level 3 -- life-threatening behavior.
The present rules to deal with such behavior mandate different quantum of ban defined against each level: Level 1 -- up to 3 months, Level 2 -- up to 6 months; and Level 3 -- minimum period of 2 years or more without limit.
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