Passenger ‘mistakenly’ approaches cockpit on Air India Varanasi flight; airline says security not compromised

In a fresh incident involving Air India, it has come to light that a flight bound for Varanasi encountered a possible security scare. As per details available, a passenger approached the cockpit entry area on a Varanasi-bound flight while searching for the lavatory. The airline has now described the incident as a mistake on the passenger’s part.

In a statement, the air carrier said that the passenger mistakenly entered cockpit entry area on an Air India flight bound for Varanasi, while searching for washroom. The airline emphasized that safety protocols were not violated.

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Air India further said the matter was reported to authorities upon landing and is under investigation.

An Air India Express spokesperson said, “We are aware of media reports regarding an incident on one of our flights to Varanasi, where a passenger approached the cockpit entry area while looking for the lavatory. We reaffirm that robust safety and security protocols are in place and were not compromised. The matter was reported to the relevant authorities on landing and is currently under investigation.”

In another incident, a London-New Delhi A 162 flight on September 21 went back to the boarding gate, after having commenced the pushback to proceed for takeoff, when it was known that one of passengers was not on the plane.

An Air India spokesperson in a statement said that the passenger, who was not identified, had the boarding pass scanned and was “marked as boarded, but failed to board the aircraft”.

The spokesperson added that the passenger had accidentally gone to the arrivals area instead of the departure gate after their boarding pass was scanned. The aircraft returned to offload the passenger’s baggage, following standard security protocols, which caused a delay.

“The passenger was questioned by airport security, and our flight crew followed proper procedures. The decision to return ensured compliance with security regulations. We regret the delay caused by this incident,” the spokesperson added.

While Air India did not specify the length of the delay, tracking portal FlightTracker24 reported the flight was about two hours late.

This incident comes less than two weeks after an Air India flight from Delhi to Singapore was delayed overnight due to a cabin cooling issue before departure.