Deepa Malik, who made the nation proud last month becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games, has lashed out at Vistara airlines for ill-mannered and rude behaviour by its crew members.
Malik, who was travelling from Mumbai to Delhi by Vistara flight UK 902, took to Twitter to complain to Vistara about “poor wheelchair handling” and “rude” behaviour of one of its crew members aboard the flight.
“Very poor handling of wheelchair passenger in De boarding and fragile items. Rude n ill mannered crew. Sad experience. @airvistara,(sic)” she tweeted.
In the comments section of the feedback form given to the passengers, Malik wrote that the crew did not know how to shift a person from the seat in the wheelchair to the one in the cabin.
Malik also said that she was told to speak softly by one of the crew members named Priyanka, when she was calling her parents to inform them of a flight delay. On objecting, the crew member said, “sweetheart chill”.
“Cabin crew senior Priyanka was rude in the flight who told me to speak softly at a time when I called parents to inform delay in flight. On objecting, she says 'sweetheart chill'. You do not talk to a passenger that when your flight is delayed. The boarding is still on. Plus wheelchair handling is so poor that you do not know how to shift a person from seat to cabin chair. The entire staff stands and looks at each other for 10 min. No action. Fragile packet received wet inspite of informing that it had delicate electronic and it has been sent on belt,” she wrote in her complaint.
Following Malik’s complaint, Vistara put up a message apologising for the incident. It said the incident is being investigated and corrective measure will be taken so it never occurs again.
“Ms Deepa Malik, the Paralympic silver medallist is a national hero and like every countrymen, we are immensely proud of her achievements.... We regret that we failed to deliver the standard of service that Vistara pride itself on in this instance. As a team we would like to sincerely apologise to Deepa for her disappointing experience... We are investigating the incident and will take corrective actions as soon as possible....,” tweeted Vistara.
“@DeepaAthlete @airvistara Ma'am, I am the CCO of Vistara, and am truly sorry for what you experienced. I will personally investigate,” tweeted Vistara’s Chief commercial officer Sanjiv Kapoor.
A team from Vistara visited Malik at her home to apologise to her. Malik later tweeted that she was happy “to receive such a positive response and prompt action for future betterment.”
Malik bagged a silver in the Women's Shot Put F53 event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games, clinching the medal with a personal best throw of 4.61 meters.
