SpiceJet rejects charges of 'mistreating' para-athlete as 'baseless'

National Carrier SpiceJet on Monday strongly condemned the report of the airline mistreating a para-athlete as absolutely baseless.

This came in the backdrop of the report of mistreatment with Madhu Bagri, a wheelchair tennis player.

Bagri has alleged that she was not allowed to board her Tirupathi-Hyderabad SpiceJet flight and was insulted by the airline officials.

In response to this allegation, the national carrier issued a statement clarifying that Bagri was provided assistance as soon as she arrived at the Tirupati airport on Monday morning and was allotted a third row seat.

"On reaching the aircraft, the passenger insisted on having the front row seat. All front row seats in Q400 Bombardier aircraft are emergency exit rows and hence passengers with any kind of disability are not allowed to sit on these seats as per DGCA rules," the statement read.

"Even after a lot of explaining the passenger argued and kept insisting for the front row seat. Since the flight was getting delayed, a collective decision was taken to offload the passenger," it added.

As per SpiceJet at no point Bagri was manhandled or mistreated and SpiceJet women staff assisted her out.

SpiceJet further asserted that Bagri was given a choice to travel by SpiceJet's Boeing flight, which was scheduled to depart at 4:30 pm and was also informed that the first row seat would be reserved for her, but she refused and continued using offensive language.

"SpiceJet being a responsible airline does not compromise with the safety of its passengers, crew and aircraft at any given point," the statement added.