I’m not sure which is worse – that someone intentionally peed on their fellow passenger or that the airline didn’t hold the person accountable in any way.

Drunk Air India passenger exposes himself and urinates in the cabin

As reported by The time of India, this incident occurred on November 26, 2022 on Air India flight AI102 from New York (JFK) to Delhi (DEL). The story is only now being published because the affected passenger is not satisfied with the airline’s response as she feels the issue is not being taken seriously.

In particular, one man, who was said to be intoxicated, exposed himself and urinated on a fellow Business Class passenger, a woman in her 70s. According to the victim, the following happened:

“Shortly after lunch was served and the lights were turned off, another passenger came to my seat completely intoxicated. He undid his pants, relieved himself and continued to expose me to his privates.”

The man is said to have remained standing there and only moved after another passenger interfered and told him to leave. At this point, the victim informed the crew of what had happened:

“My clothes, shoes and bag were completely soaked with urine. The stewardess followed me to the seat, made sure there was a smell of urine and sprayed disinfectant on my bag and shoes.”

The traveler then cleaned herself in the toilet, and the crew gave her new pajamas and slippers. She first stood in the galley for 20 minutes and then sat in the crew seat for an hour, not wanting to return to her seat.

Eventually the crew told her she had to return to her seat. Although the crew had put sheets on the seat, it reportedly still smelled like urine. Two hours later she was back in a crew rest seat, where she says she spent the rest of the flight. While Business Class was full, the woman was unhappy that she wasn’t upgraded to one of the available First Class seats. Then the following happened on landing:

“Crew clearly did not feel that caring for a distressed passenger was a priority. At the end of the flight the staff told me they would get me a wheelchair to ensure I could get through customs as early as possible. However, the wheelchair dropped me off in a waiting area where I waited 30 minutes and no one came to pick me up. I ended up having to go through customs and collect the luggage myself – all in Air India pajamas and socks.”

Air India did not penalize this passenger

Perhaps the most worrying part of this story is that Air India did nothing to punish the man who exposed himself and urinated on a fellow passenger:

“The crew were not proactive in dealing with a very sensitive and traumatic situation and I had to stand up for myself all the time and wait a long time for an answer. I am distressed that the airline made no attempt to ensure my safety or comfort during this incident.”

The incident is only now being investigated after the traveler sent a letter to the chair of Air India parent company Tata Group expressing her displeasure. Only now does the airline appear to be taking the situation seriously:

“Air India has reported the incident to the police and regulators. We were in regular contact with the injured passenger.”

As much as there are stories in the United States where crews sometimes take a power trip, this is the other extreme. When a stranger exposes himself and pees on you, that is an attack, pure and simple, and should not be tolerated. Assuming everything happened as reported, the police should have hit that flight and the man should be on the airline’s no-fly list.

bottom line

An Air India business class passenger on a flight from New York to Delhi recounts a rather unpleasant surprise after lunch when a fellow passenger exposed himself and then peed on her. According to the victim, the crew did nothing to punish the man who did this, and didn’t even do much to accommodate her. Instead they just put a sheet on the seat and told her to sit back down.

What do you think of this Air India incident?