MUMBAI: A senior travels with his wife in business class on one piece of luggage Air India flight from Newark to Mumbai On Wednesday, three hours later, he suffered an anxiety attack that caused him to scream and scream intermittently for nearly seven hours, despite cabin crew and passengers on board trying to calm and restrain him, a witness on the flight said.

“He was about six feet tall, probably in his 70s, and appeared to be in good physical shape… He vacillated between fits of calm and anger. He was abusive and tried to strangle his lover three times during the episode.” “It was a harrowing flight,” said Pravin Tonsekar, a business class passenger who witnessed the incident. The man only calmed down after an on-board doctor administered sedatives.
Air India did not comment on the incident. In the recent past, international AI flights, particularly to the US, have witnessed an increase in recalcitrant passenger incidents, most of which involved intoxicated passengers.
The AI ​​crew attempted to engage the aviator in conversation to calm him down
The last case of a recalcitrant passenger on a flight in which a passenger suffered an anxiety attack occurred on Air India flight AI-144 departing Newark for Mumbai at approximately 12:20 p.m. local time.
The aircraft cabin was quiet for about three hours. Pravin Tonsekar, who was seated in the 9th K seat in business class, said he then saw the senior, who was seated in the 14th K seat, arguing with a flight attendant.
“He was about 1.80 meters tall, probably in his 70’s and appeared to be in good physical condition. Then he suddenly started screaming and screaming and screaming in panic and saying he wanted to disembark. He yelled, “The door of the plane had to be opened for him to leave. He kept shouting, ‘Stop, open the door’, and when that didn’t work, he started verbally abusing the crew,” Tonsekar said.
“His wife, who is about 5 feet tall, also bore the brunt of his anger. When we saw him grab her by the neck as if to strangle her, the crew and passengers rushed in and physically handcuffed him,” he added. The wife of the panicked passenger was so scared that she got out of business class and hid in economy class for some time.
The tirade and panic attack lasted nearly seven hours, the eyewitness added. “It was an extremely difficult situation for the crew. Even the second group of crew, whose duty time had not yet started and therefore wore civilian clothes, tried to get the passenger to calm down and calm him down,” he said.
At this time, two doctors on board had answered the crew’s call for help. “The unruly passenger was held down by the doctors and given sedatives. His wife told them he skipped the anti-anxiety medication he was supposed to take after takeoff,” the passenger said. After that, the flight went smoothly and landed in Mumbai around noon on Thursday.
“The captain of the AirIndia “Flight made an announcement over the public address system to inform the two doctors, Dr. Venugopal and Dr. Patel for her services,” Tonsekar said.
“The Air India crew did an exceptional job. Dinesh Gopalkrishnan, Reagan Dsa, Vimal Morawala, Sanjana, Ashwini Gandharwar, Prashant Sonar, Baby Jamaluddin and Pallavi Jadhav – the crew members – bore the brunt for almost seven hours. But “They made sure the flight didn’t have to be diverted and still provided timely service to the other passengers. Air India must congratulate them and appreciate their handling of the situation,” Tonsekar said.