24 April,2017 08:36 AM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
A passenger who was travelling from Tirupati to Hyderabad on April 18 via SpiceJet has filed a complaint against the airline for playing national anthem when everyone was strapped to their seats
A passenger who was travelling from Tirupati to Hyderabad on April 18 via SpiceJet has filed a complaint against the airline for playing national anthem when everyone was strapped to their seats.
The anthem was played by the cabin crew on board SpiceJet flight SG1044 on plane's PA system just minutes before the landing leaving the passengers and cabin crew not in a position to stand up to give respect.
A passenger, Puneet Tiwari, who works as a bank manager in Indore said that the passengers were surprised but were forced to abide by the pilots instructions. He made a video of the incident and said that the airlines was indifferent towards the incident.
A SpiceJet spokesman told TOI, "On this flight, inadvertently, our crew selected the wrong number on the playlist and the National Anthem started playing. Immediately, the same was stopped. We regret any inconvenience caused to our esteemed customers."
The SpiceJet spokesman accepted: "We have pre-recorded national anthem on our aircraft playlist to be used appropriately."
According to aviation experts, it would have been a safety violation had the passengers been directed to stand up.
SpiceJet is also embroiled in a case with related to consumer forum. However, on Monday it said it never received any complaint or order passed by a district consumer forum two years ago with respect to a consumer matter.
The airline's statement comes amid media reports saying that a consumer forum in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, has issued a bailable warrant against the carrier's managing director for ignoring a two-year-old order to reimburse ticket cost to a passenger.
