CHENNAI: A recent mid-air scuffle on board an Air India flight involving the captain and an air hostess - subsequently the woman was found guilty by the management - is just another case in the never-ending saga of routine fights and ego clashes between cockpit and cabin crew members that normally see the airhostesses losing out in the end.
Cabin crew personnel are at the mercy of captains and are hence humiliated and supressed at every stage of their career, say airhostesses. For their part, pilots accuse the women of acting too smart at times and attribute spats to cabin crewmembers failing to respect the leadership of the captain.
Though the question ‘who is to be blamed’ keeps the aviation industry divided eternally, a cabin crew member with a decade of experience says that humiliation begins right at the training stage. “Trainers won’t clear your papers if you are not nice to them. You are flunked without any rhyme or reason,” she claims adding that for a junior cabin crew member, the flight experience could be scary in the initial days as seniors get picky during briefing and even ground them. A chipped nail, an inch longer skirt or a not-so-good smile could land them in trouble, she says.
“The most I hate is serving the captains.
Though foreign airlines are better off, even captains in Gulf Air, for instance, expect cabin crew to carry their bags,” she says.
There have been instances of airhostesses being put in their place by captains collectively.
In April this year, the 800-strong Air India’s pilot association ICPA took a decision that none of its members would fly with Monica Chalan, an airhostess based in Bangalore, accusing her of ‘indiscipline’. Similarly, last year, Amrita Ahluwalia, a senior cabin crewmember, who created a stir with complaints of harassment, was stuck in Dubai with all pilots refusing to fly with her. “Finally the operations team begged us to bring her back as her visa was expiring,” says a Chennaibased Air India pilot.
“A pilot won’t off load a cabin crew member unless the latter has grossly misbehaved and disobeyed the pilot’s orders,” says another Air India pilot.
Narrating an incident he said: “When I was entering a flight I noticed a cabin crew getting mushy on the phone with her one leg on the seat. She didn’t notice me entering and continued to chat in spite of the fact that she was supposed to introduce herself and tell us about her position in the aircraft.” “Some crew members who are connected with the management try to act smart. They fail to follow mandatory procedures and when admonished file complaints of sexual harassment,” says a pilot based in Bangalore.
Airhostesses have their complaints. “We are expected to hi-hello and please the captain.
His meals have to be served first before we serve the passengers. His flirtatious comments have to be tolerated because he can report you to the HR, which will affect our performance report. If you are serving Jclass he’ll send you to the economy and that goes in our appraisal,” complains a senior cabin crew in Jet Airways in Mumbai.
Air India’s southern region registered 12 complaints from the cabin crew last year, while private airlines refused to divulge their figures.
