After Shivraj Chouhan, BJP's Jaideep Shergill slams Air India: ‘Worst airline, broke all records'

Bharatiya Janata Party’s national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill on Tuesday came down heavily on Air India over poor service, including “broken seats", calling it the “worst airline”. In a strongly worded post on X (formerly Twitter) Jaiveer Shergill said if there was an Oscar equivalent for worst airlines, Air India would win in all categories.

Without giving much detail of an incident that triggered such a strong jibe, Shergill said the airline has “broken seats, worse staff, pathetic on ground support staff and give two hoots about customer service” as some of the reasons for his sharp criticism.

He added that flying through Air India was not a pleasant experience; it “broke all records” on Tuesday.

Air India responded to Shergill’s criticism and apologised for the inconvenience caused. In a reply to Shergill’s post, the airline said, “Dear Mr. Shergill, we apologise for the inconvenience caused. Kindly share the travel details with us via DM. We'll get in touch with you.”

Not the first time

This was not a one-off incident when the airline drew criticism from political figures for mismanagement. Recently, another BJP leader and Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also flagged the poor service of Air India. On Saturday, Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that he was allotted a broken seat on an Air India flight and criticised the airline for mismanagement with seat arrangements.

In a post on X, Chouhan said, “Today I had to come from Bhopal to Delhi, inaugurate the Kisan Mela in Pusa, hold a meeting of the Natural Farming Mission in Kurukshetra and discuss with the representatives of the Kisan Organisation in Chandigarh. I had booked a ticket on Air India flight number AI436, I was allotted seat number 8C. I went and sat on the seat, the seat was broken and sunken in. It was uncomfortable to sit.”

Chouhan also said he thought the airline would improve after being taken over by the TATA management, however, he said it turned out to be his misconception. “I don't care about discomfort in sitting but it is unethical to make passengers sit on bad and uncomfortable seats after charging them full amount. Isn't this cheating the passengers?” he added.

Separately, Air India apologised for the incident and ordered a "thorough probe", while the Directorate General of Civil Aviation sought a report from the airline on the matter.