'We deeply regret...': Vistara responds to man's claim of his blind mother left alone on flight

An Instagram user on Sunday posted a video claiming that the crew of Vistara Airlines left his blind mother alone on an empty flight. The man, Ayush Kejriwal said in his video that the airline did not take responsibility for their actions.

Kejriwal’s video describing the "horrible experience" has gone viral on social media. Kejriwal, a fashion designer by profession, shared in the video that his mother was travelling from Delhi to Kolkata last week on Flight UK 747. He had opted for an “assisted travel plan” for his mother, under which a person should have assisted her for her complete travel till Kolkata.

But when the flight landed in Kolkata, she was asked to wait while all the passengers got off the plane. She waited patiently but no one came to assist her. Then a member of the cleaning staff informed her that the plane was set to go to Andaman and Nicobar Islands next, causing her to raise an alarm immediately. She was later taken off the airplane safely.

“@Vistara Airlines, how could you put my blind mother in danger like this?! Are you not responsible for taking care of disabled passengers who are left under your supervision and assistance whilst travelling?! SHOCKING!,” Kejriwal wrote in the caption of the post.

Vistara Airlines responded to Ayush’s post by writing a comment in which they apologised and asked him for specific flight details.

“Hi Ayush, we deeply regret to learn about your recent experience with us. At Vistara, we hold ourselves to the highest service standards, and it upsets us to hear that we fell short of your expectations. Please be assured that we prioritize the well-being of our customers and their safety and security are of top priority for us. Please DM us the case reference numbers and booking details. Thanks, Aishwarya,” said the comment from Vistara Airlines.

Users have slammed the airline on Instagram for their actions as one user wrote, “That's terrifying. How can they be irresponsible like this.”

One user thanked Kejriwal for sharing this experience as his mother also faced a similar issue.

“Thanks for highlighting, faced similar issue on my mother's flight from FRA to DEL, here ground staff didn't call wheelchair service, instead they were insisting that my mother should walk, it was only after 1 hour that we were able to contact wheelchair service provider who then assisted my mom. Complaint lodged,” wrote the user explaining the issue his mother faced while travelling with Vistara Airlines.

Another user wrote that they will think a number of times before booking a ticket for their flights.

“So scared to listen and imagine what your mother has gone through. @vistara are you kind enough to explain why this has happened? Such a horrible experience. @vistara Next time we should think more than 10 times before booking,” wrote the user.

Another Instagram user shared that he faced a similar issue and no action has been taken yet.

He wrote, “They did this to my aunt a few weeks ago. I raised several complaints to @singaporeair and they haven’t come back yet. The best is to write to Ministry of Civil Aviation’s grievance portal. They do take an action.”