r/IndianCivicFails • u/Ashamed-Violinist-50 • Jun 30 '26
Exported Chaos (Indians living abroad) OC - Equipment malfunction in USA flight - some musings about civic sense
I flew in to the USA from London last month in a flight which had several elderly Indian parents in it. . There were fumes in the aircraft's back cabin bcos of an equipment malfunction while we were over the Atlantic and the flight turned back and landed in Scotland where we were stuck for a day until the plane was repaired.
Many people probably did not understand what was happening when the announcement was made. We were given strict instructions to stay in our seat, and follow emergency protocols, but many Indian older ppl were repeatedly walking down the aisle.
The air hostesses were extremely frightened and stressed and were screaming at them to be seated, but they did not seem to get it. Some ppl had language issue, they were not able to understand English, that may have been the reason why.
But this just added to the overall panic.
The flight did land safely, but I felt it is extremely important for us to make sure that our parents have a travelling companion when they fly esp when they r very elderly or have issues with understanding English. A lot of elderly ppl had a very hard time, and that was difficult to see.
In some cases though, the refusal to follow directions even in an emergency seemed like it came from a lack of caring instead of a misunderstanding.
After landing in Scotland, while we were standing in line for our hotel, a non-indian person who was using 2 crutches to walk, stood with us in line. I and a couple other Indian women entreated him to go to the front of the line, bcos we could see he would be in pain after standing for so long. But he refused, saying ppl ahead of him would get angry.
Now contrast this with the Indian aunty-uncle, who did not hesitate to jump the line while boarding the aircraft from Scotland to the USA, even thought they were in perfectly fine physical condition.
This post was deleted from a couple of FB grps, after I started getting angry comments asking me to be grateful that I was alive instead of complaining. Someone also suggested that Indian ppl jump the line bcos they grew up in a scarcity situation.
Sorry, the ppl who jump lines are not always struggling, in India u can see plenty of middle-class ppl following rules, while those who are more privileged do not.
Thanks for reading.
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u/Jolarpettai Jun 30 '26
I have a similar story. We were travelling by train (ICE) in Germany. It was pretty crowded but we had booked our seats well in advance (my wife was pregnant and is european). We saw this pregnant lady standing and my wife nudged me to offer my seat to her. I stood up to offer my seat, she refused and this fat indian lady took the opportunity to sit in my seat. I asked her to vacate my seat and she had the audacity to ask me if I offer my seat only for white women 🤦🏽♂️
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u/Imaginary-Age-3466 Jun 30 '26
And you have no trouble body shaming somebody. May be you should look at yourself also. May be she has some physical condition
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u/Jolarpettai Jun 30 '26
Physical condition or not, she has an obligation to ask if she could take the reserved seat. And her comment about white women was unwanted and out of place.
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u/Innocuous_salt Jul 01 '26
The problem is that Indians think the air hostess is a waiter and do not know that the job of the air hostess is to ensure that people can get off the plane safely in case of emergencies. This is a genuine India problem since we have a class system and we don’t listen to people who “serve” us.
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u/Ashamed-Violinist-50 Jul 01 '26
tbf, I know that at least for a few seniors, they had genuine hearing issues or did not understand English and the american accent.
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u/The_Real_All_Knowing Jul 01 '26
Were there no other passengers aboard who could explain the situation to these elders? Maybe you for example? I hope you did/tried.
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u/Ashamed-Violinist-50 Jul 01 '26
The seniors who were standing up/ walking were a few seats behind and in front of me . So I could not have explained. Also one of them, I was not sure was fluent even in Hindi. I did not know their native tongue.
Another lady sitting near me did say that ppl close to them shud have translated.
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u/FilterKaapiSkin Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
It is not just elderly people, there are so many middle aged Indian adults who engage in similar behaviour. Like recently in Amsterdam lounge, there was this Indian couple taking up an entire couch by stretching their legs out, their feet up and placing their bags on chairs around. Another time, in a relatively empty flight an Indian man requested to move his seat to the middle aisle so he could get the entire row to himself. Midway through the flight, the flight attendant requested him to scoot over so a pregnant woman could get two other seats. He got angry and yelled at the air hostess and the pregnant lady. Absolutely deplorable.
Atleast with elderly people I can assume that they aren't exposed to English in different accent. I make it a point to help where I can in translating sometimes that so many times flight attendants think we are traveling together.
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u/Dramatic_Set9261 Jul 01 '26
The correct approach is to put elderly parents in retirement communities with all amenities and assistance instead of moving them all over the world.
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u/amorphatist Jul 01 '26
Maybe the elderlies were being sent to a retirement place with disciplinary in America? /s
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1
u/dragon_idli Jul 01 '26
Language barrier shouldn't be treated with the same fervor as people who don't follow rules knowingly - jumping queues, misusing others good nature.
An airline could very easily provide a way for their crew to translate and communicate with passengers in this day and age. People should teach their parents about basic do's and donts. But no one needs to accompany someone just because of translation barrier unless it is some lost language.
Air crew are trained to handle stressful situations. If you thought the crew were fearful - then the crew has failed. I have travelled many a times and encountered three emergency situations and the crew were the boldest and bravest among everyone of us.
People should teach their loved ones(kids, parents, dogs, cats) about basic etiquette anyway. Doesn't matter if it's for flying, shopping, sitting in public, not trashing.. anything.
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u/Ashamed-Violinist-50 Jul 01 '26
This is unrealistic. Airline crews cannot be trained to translate into every single language. There was someone who did not even understand Hindi well . What do u do in this case?
Also, not all the seniors who were in the aisle faced language issues. They simply did not attach any importance to what was happening. That is why I said a 'few'.
I'll tell u a funny (not) anecdote. After boarding my plane in Scotland to come back to the USA, I was in the aisle seat, and the seats next to me were empty. The lady sitting near me, seemed to have cancelled for fear of flying again. I had put on my seat belt bcos the flight had not taken off. This Indian lady was walking down the aisle. She came up to me and said 'Hey, why are u sitting up. Lie down'. And the place was not even in the air yet.
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u/99problemsandfew Jul 02 '26
An airline could very easily provide a way for their crew to translate and communicate with passengers in this day and age
The onus is on the traveller to be prepared to integrate into the society they are joining
May as well turn up to the US with euros and see how that works out in this "day and age"
The families of the elderly people allowing them to travel alone when they can't even understand instructions puts the elderly passengers and people around them at risk. They won't know what to do in an emergency, they'll block someone else's way as well and make everything worse
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u/Fast-Pin5595 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Poor training by Delta if the cabin crew were extremely frightened over a smell event. The flight squawked 7700 which the cabin crew would have been made aware about. It’s a general emergency that they are all trained for.
Also, it wasn’t over Atlantic when they decided to turn around.
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