What a 'powerful' Gujarati wedding party 'hijacking' Jet flight says about entitled Indians

In another case of VIP bullying, on December 2, a Jet Airways flight scheduled to leave for Bhopal from Mumbai was "hijacked" by an "influential" family.

Passengers on board flight 9W7083 were in for a rude shock when out of a party of 80 people travelling to Bhopal to attend a wedding, 17 reached the airport well beyond the last call to board the aircraft, causing inconvenience to those who were given the tickets in their absence.

The flight was delayed by nearly two hours, forcing those on board to face the chaos. The marriage party, according to reports, was an "influential Gujarati family" who bullied the Jet Airways staff and even blocked the aircraft's doors to prevent it from taking off before their relatives had boarded the flight.

They created a ruckus on the flight and compelled the airline staff into accomodating the 17 latecomers. They allegedly intimidated the Jet Airways staff to deboard the passengers who were given fresh tickets so that their family members could be accommodated.

According to reports, after the ensuing hullabaloo, Jet Airways agreed to accommodate the family because they were related to a "powerful" minister. After almost two hours, five people deboarded the plane and accepted Rs 10,000 as compensation for the harassment.

The flight, initially scheduled to land at 7.10am, finally took off at 8am and landed at 9.10am. Among the people who were put through unnecessary trouble was a man who was travelling from Singapore to attend his father’s funeral.

This episode is a rude reminder of the blatant abuse of privilege and entitlement by the rich and the powerful. However, it also raises questions of safety at high-security zones like airports. How did the 17 passengers, who didn't have confirmed tickets, manage to pass through the security check and boarding gates?

Is is indeed quite worrying, from a security point of view, that "sensitive" zones like flights and airports can be held ransom without no seeming security intervention, to accommodate the whims of a "powerful" family.

Jet Airways confirmed the incident. "The offloaded guests - part of a larger group, refused to accept the airline’s offer of compensation/re-accommodation on alternative flights, and together with other members of the group, proceeded to hold the flight," an airline spokesman said.

Here is the text of Jet Airways statement:

Outrage on Twitter too: