An air-hostess's dread

Times of India - 3/2/09

She was manoeuvring the refreshments trolley down the narrow aisle in economy class when she suddenly felt a hand brush against her thigh. Pallavi (name changed), a 22-year-old air hostess with Jet Airways, had no choice but to carry on with her duties, seemingly unruffled by the humiliation. ‘‘I turned around and saw an elderly man who had probably touched me, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it,’’ she says. 

A young and glamorous cabin crew, traversing both domestic and international skies, encounters a variety of in-flight provocations. The latest incident on an Indigo flight reinforces the stereotypes associated with the Indian flyer, especially men: ‘‘They have money but no manners.’’ 

Bindu Ramachandran, aviation trainer with Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training, and ex-cabin crew with Singapore Airlines, recalls with horror a flight on which a ‘‘totally smashed’’ passenger from Chennai asked for more liquor. ‘‘I still remember — he was drinking cognac. I told him, gently, that I could only offer him a non-alcoholic beverage. He couldn’t handle the refusal, so he started spitting and using abusive language.’’ Far from being intimidated, Bindu informed the rest of the cabin crew serving in economy: ‘‘There were eight of us — we surrounded him and told him if he didn’t stop hurtling obscenities, we’d have him arrested when we landed. That sobered him.’’....... 

Sapna Gupta, founder and director of Air Hostess Academy Pvt Ltd, says categorically: ‘‘Sadly, in our country, girls grow up being eveteased in buses, on the streets, everywhere. So most of them can deal with it, even before we formally train them.’’