Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his dissatisfaction over the discomfort he faced during his Air India flight from Bhopal to New Delhi on Saturday. The minister, who was seated on a broken and sunken seat, took to social media platform X to share his experience, questioning the airline’s management over its service quality.
Chouhan remarked that he had expected improved service after the Tata Group’s takeover of Air India, but his experience proved otherwise. He further asked the airline if it would take corrective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future or continue to exploit passengers who are compelled to travel due to time constraints.
Following his post, Air India promptly responded, apologizing for the inconvenience and assuring that a thorough investigation was being conducted. In an official statement, an Air India spokesperson stated, “Air India deeply regrets the inconvenience caused to Hon’ble Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji. This does not reflect the standard of service we strive to provide, and we are investigating the matter to ensure such incidents are not repeated.”
As per flight tracking data, the flight was operated by Air India’s Airbus A321 aircraft, bearing registration VT-RTB, which is relatively new, at just one year old. The aircraft departed from Bhopal at 8:19 AM and arrived in Delhi an hour later.
In his detailed post, Chouhan explained that he had booked a ticket on Air India Flight AI436 and was allotted seat 8C. However, upon sitting, he realized the seat was damaged and uncomfortable. Upon inquiry, the airline staff admitted that the management had been previously informed about the defective seat and that tickets for it should not have been sold. Chouhan further claimed that there were multiple such faulty seats on the flight.
Despite co-passengers offering him a different seat, the minister chose to complete his journey on the defective one, emphasizing that charging full fare for an uncomfortable experience was unethical and unfair to passengers. He termed the situation as cheating the passengers and urged Air India to take necessary action to improve its service standards.
