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Now, all Air India flights will have handcuffs to pin down unruly flyers

Air India used to carry restrainers only on international flights but they will now have them on domestic flights as well.

Next time you fly Air India, watch yourself or you'll be pinned to your seat.

The flag carrier of India has decided to keep plastic handcuffs on all its flights to keep unruly passengers seated, reports The Times of India.

Speaking with the English daily, Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani said, "We used to carry restrainers only on our international flights but will now have them on both domestic and international flights. All our aircraft will have two pairs of restraining devices. The safety of passengers and aircraft is paramount. We will not compromise with that."

The decision comes in light of the recent cases of molestation on Air India flight. A passenger on Muscat-Delhi flight allegedly molested an airhostess on January 2 and in a separate incident, a passenger on its Mumbai-Newark flight reportedly groped a co-passenger on December 21.

A senior official told TOI: "Inflight misbehaviour is on the rise in recent times. Our pilots adopt zero tolerance for offences like sexual harassment, both of airhostesses or flyers, and hand over offenders to law enforcing agencies on landing. Restraining a pax (passenger) is one of the last steps and should be done only if the matter is totally out of control."

In another incident involving budget carrier IndiGo earlier this month, a passenger was handcuffed after he demanded that the door of the Dubai-New Delhi flight be opened.

In a statement, IndiGo said: "At IndiGo, such unruly behaviour is not acceptable. Safety of the passengers, crew and the aircraft is of top priority - and at no time it can be compromised."

Such incidents of unruly passengers seem to have grown in recent years, both in India and around the world.

In December last year, a Jet Airways Mumbai-Bhopal flight was delayed after a group of passengers, who were part of a marriage party virtually hijacked the flight. The flight was reportedly over-booked due to a technical glitch, the website reported.

In 2016, a Compass Airlines flight headed to Los Angeles had to make an emergency landing in Tucson after a passenger made a threat to the flight crew. The man reportedly was unruly on the flight and would not sit down.

In another 2015 incident, a passenger who created a ruckus for almost six hours onboard an Emirates flight from Dubai to Melbourne had to be restrained, the airline said in a statement on Monday.

According to the statement the unruly passenger was also reportedly assaulted a passenger.

Last year in December, Korean Air said it would let its crew use stun guns more aggressively and put more male staff aboard flights to clamp down on violent passengers, after an incident involving an unruly passenger.

nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com