Airline cancels legislator's ticket for second time in India

An airline in India Tuesday again cancelled a legislator's ticket saying its stand on him remains unchanged following his assault on one of its staffer last week at New Delhi airport.

The state-owned carrier Air India cancelled legislator Ravindra Gaikwad's ticket for the Mumbai-Delhi flight scheduled for Wednesday morning.

"Our stand remains the same. We have cancelled his ticket for the flight scheduled for departure from the Mumbai airport tomorrow morning," Air India spokesperson told media. "We have issued directions to all our regional staff to check if he has booked more tickets."

Last week Air India grounded the legislator from right-wing Shiv Sena for abusing and assaulting a 60-year-old manager. Gaikwad boasted beating the airline employee with a slipper 25 times.

Reports said the lawmaker lost his temper after being told he could not fly business class on the Pune to Delhi flight because it was an all-economy flight.

The spokesman said airline will enter his name in the online ticketing system so that whenever he tries to book a ticket, their staff should get a notification.

Following his assault Air India filed a complaint after which Gaikwad was banned on all flights operated by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA). Gaikwad following his assault had to return to his home city, Pune, by train.

Sena has its base in Maharashtra and its activists promoting religious and ethnic chauvinism often resort to violence and threats to enforce their diktats.

The Shiv Sena party is a junior coalition partner in the Maharashtra local government, which is governed by India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party.

On Monday, Shiv Sena legislators created an uproar in the lower house of Indian parliament (locally called Lok Sabha), demanding the lifting of the airlines' ban on Gaikwad. However, federal civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told parliament that violence of any kind on an aircraft could prove disastrous. Endit