An Air India crew member's social media post on a substandard accommodation provided by the airline in Telangana's Hyderabad to the "fatigued" staffers after a scheduled layover flight is going viral.
Air India reportedly failed to book accommodation for some cabin crew members, who then had to wait for long hours after landing at Hyderabad on Wednesday night.
Sources cited in a news agency PTI report said that the cabin crew members kept looking for a hotel throughout the night and when they finally managed the accommodation at the airline's flying training facility CTE in the wee hours of Thursday, the room lacked basic amenities.
An Air India crew member, furious at the condition of the accommodation, took to microblogging platform X and called out the airline for treating the crew "this way".
Again. Again. Yet Again!!! @airindia if you want to be a world class airline, you do not treat your fatigued crew , on a scheduled layover flight this way . You simply DO NOT. Hunting / wrestling for hotel rooms for four hours after a flight- and this is what is ‘offered’! No bedsheets, towels, basics???" the post by Manisha Singhal read.
“Imagine we stayed in Taj and Marriott. Someone who saw better days quipped. Those days are over, for sure, but this trade off is sub-par . And a sleep deprived, shabbily treated cabin crew will hold that grudge - forever. May be the fatigue will show in experience your fliers will have! Dignity cannot be a trade off for Cost rationalisation . Period," the post further read.
One of the sources aware of the matter said the room at airline's flying training facility CTE was in a 'pathetic condition."
Sources said when the crew members went to the hotel where they were supposed to stay, they found that there were no bookings made by the airline.
The sources said the accommodation at the CTE is meant only for the staff coming for training and is not for the cockpit or cabin crew on duty.
For cockpit and cabin crew, airlines book their hotel rooms in advance at the city where the flight is to land at night.
When contacted, an Air India spokesperson admitted that there was a lapse, the PTI report said.
"At Air India, the well-being of our staff is important to us and we offer comfortable stay in globally known hotels for their layovers. This is a lapse and we will take appropriate action," the spokesperson said in a statement.
