Business Class Urinal

 

 

A passenger, in an inebriated state, urinated on a co -passenger is the hot news now. The incident happened on an Air India flight from New York to Mumbai. We know the dust will settle down after the initial excitement, without we knowing what happened to the distressed passenger and what steps the airlines have taken to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

 Nevertheless, besides the sensation and excitement this incident generated, there are many points for us to ponder. Though it may look like an isolated incident, it is a very clear indication of our underlying culture, corporate inefficiency, callousness and the insensitivity of the work force.

Whatever be the reason, the behaviour of the passenger was repulsive and unpardonable. Such unruly behaviour, under the cover of alcohol, is part of our culture. And, though we may not agree, allowing such a person to, at least initially, go scot free is also what our culture is made of. Unfortunately, closing our eyes conveniently towards such incidents is a part of our collective psyche.

Most of us would not have found it so bizarre if this incident had happened a few years ago on an AI flight. We all expected such things to happen in a carrier heavily laden with bureaucracy and misgovernance. If we thought things would have changed since Tata, one of the most reputed business conglomerates in India and also known for their high business standards and culture, took the reins of AI, we were mistaken. It is indeed surprising to know that, even after taking over the ownership of Air India, Tata have done preciously nothing to change the nauseating inherent culture of this particular business. There cannot be a better example of corporate inefficiency. We can always argue that they have just taken over the management and will need time to clean up the garbage accumulated over decades.

This argument does not hold much ground and can be easily countered. First of all, Tata is already in the business of running an airline. Even then, the crew, who should respond to such situations quickly and efficiently were very slow and was shockingly insensitive in handling the whole situation. An Air Hostess should be trained to be with the distressed person immediately, thus preventing any further mishap and bringing the situation under control. From whatever information we have the crew responded late and were trying to hush up the whole incident as trivial. Here we should remember a recent incident, which happened in another airline, where we saw a senior team member protecting her colleague and assertively asking the passenger to behave properly when he lost his control.

It is also astonishing that the complaint by the victim and also by a co-passenger were left unattended till the whole issue erupted in a big way. Are we to believe the systems, processes and checks and balances of a hugely reputed corporate like Tata is so fragile?

The Chairman of Tata Sons, though late in his response, admitted their mistake. His conscience must have pricked when he saw Wells Fargo, employer of the accused, promptly removing him from his employment. That is the kind of speed and agility we expect from responsible corporate companies when it comes to solving a problem. Further, just admitting the mistake will not help in regaining confidence of the public and what matters is the immediate implementation of corrective actions which will bring in quick results.

 We cannot see this as an isolated incident as it has exposed many of the hidden vices inherent in our social structure.

Somewhere the accused had a feeling that he could behave badly and get away with it. We all know how slow our judicial system is in dealing with such culprits. Most of the time we don’t even dare to complain knowing well that it won’t give us the desired result. The crew was clueless how to respond to the situation, which can be an indication of the need for more intense and meaningful training for the work force. The distressed passenger never received the care and empathy she deserves, thus adding to her agony. In a highly machanised world, the fundamental responsibility of an Air Hostess is to provide human warmth, which was denied. That the complaint was unattended shows either the callousness or the dishonesty of the system, which should prompt the top management to rethink about the level of professionalism in their organisation.

It is evident that after such a sordid drama, organisations will have to tighten their seat belts to provide a safer and congenial travelling experience. A story shared about Star Bucks will be relevant here. In US, two black businessmen were waiting at Star Bucks for their friend to join them. The manager of the franchise insisted on them to give their order or to leave the place. The incident took an ugly turn and police were called in. That created a lot of negative vibes for Starbucks. They responded by closing down all their franchisees on a week day for few hours and giving all their employees training on how to handle such situations.

We all know that now the incident is under investigation and law will take its own course. That, however, is only one part of the issue. What is important here is to know how quickly and efficiently Tata will respond to this.  They can take inspiration from Star Bucks, which is also their business partner, and do something which will set a precedent for others to follow.

That particular area in the aircraft is known as Business Class and the airlines is supposed to provide Class in whatever they offer because the passenger has paid for it. Unambiguously, it is the responsibility of the airlines to ensure that the Class is maintained in everything they do. Let this incident remind everyone that if professionalism and quality is not maintained consistently, even the Business class area can turn into a stinking urinal.