IndiGo bars specially-abled child from boarding plane at Ranchi airport; airline issues statement

Ranchi (Jharkhand): A social media post on Sunday alleged the staff of IndiGo airlines barred an adolescent with special needs from boarding a plane along with his parents at the Ranchi airport on Saturday.

“The Indigo staff announced that the child would not be allowed to take the flight. That he was a risk to other passengers. That he would have to become ‘normal’ before he could be travel-worthy,’ read the post.

“And the staff then went on to state something on the lines of ‘behaviours such as this, and that of drunk passengers unfit to travel,” added the post.

Yesterday an @IndiGo6E staff at Ranchi Airport did this. Shame on you @IndiGo6E.@JM_Scindia @DGCAIndia @PMOIndia
Please take strictest possible action.#specialneedchild #divyang pic.twitter.com/LpvSnXB8jg

— Abhinandan Mishra (@mishra_abhi) May 8, 2022

Meanwhile, the airline issued a statement saying, “In view of the safety of passengers, a specially-abled child could not board the flight with his family on May 07 as he was in a state of panic. The ground staff waited for him to calm down till the last minute but to no avail.”

“The airline made the family comfortable by providing them with a hotel stay, the family flew this morning to their destination. IndiGo prides itself on being an inclusive organisation, be it for employees or customers; and over 75k specially-abled passengers fly with IndiGo every month,” added the statement.