Indigo Fracas – Flawed Disciplinary Action

Indigo Airlines flew directly into a storm kicked up on the ground! Two Indigo staffers were caught on video trying to pin down an abrasive passenger. This was a fight more common among kids at school. Not at an airport.

The incident happened in mid-October. The video, shot by an Indigo cargo handler, came out in November. Curiously enough, the cargo handler was removed from the job. As per Indigo’s public statement, he had instigated the other crew and was directly responsible for things coming to a head. Still, no matter what the cargo handler did, there is no way the people who actually got physical can be let off the hook. This is where Indigo seems to have gone completely off the radar.

Let us accept for now that the cargo handler was the instigator. Even if that was the case,were the two other staffers such mindless automatons that they would just follow someone’s bidding, even if that be of their own supposedly senior colleague.

Indigo claims the staffers used force to rein in an out of bounds passenger as a matter of safety. If these people are expected to value ‘safety’ in their line of work, was there any trace of caution in their behaviour? And this is the key point! The staffers were not competent even within the operational parameters of their work. They got carried away in the heat of the moment.

People in charge of safely ferrying flyers to and fro from the airport terminal to the planes amidst million dollar equipment & against the backdrop of complex operations need to possess emotional composure and presence of mind – in abundance! That seemed lacking among all the staffers involved.

Seen in this light, the two staffers – who have ostentibly not been removed from their jobs – failed miserably. That they used physical force is the obvious violation. The significant violation underpinning what happened is in not applying their minds when it came to responding to the instigatory exhortation of their senior colleague ( if we indeed accept Indigo’s version of events and the interpretation).

We can then infer that Indigo sought to gloss over the other two staffer’s violations by painting the cargo handler in a darker shade. That is flawed disciplinary action. It shows a lack of appreciation of emotional composure that ought to be expected in this job. It absolves people of responsibility where it is due. At the time of writing this, it appears that these staffers had not been removed from their jobs. Even if they subequently are, the actions might have been remedied, but what needs attention is the flawed reasoning – first and foremost.