[samyakmodi]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

I too agree to that to an extent. The issue is, its not limited to alcohol (free) from flights. If you have been to foreign airports which Indian tourists visits, you can see a trend where they purchase alcohol from duty free, have it in flight / get drunk and get in to flight.

The issue I feel is due to couple of issues in what we consider as 'social drinking' especially when booze is free.

We all have that obnoxious relative / colleague who gets drunk in marriages / office events gets loud and annoying. When in flight this person becomes the urinator, when in office outing this guy becomes the borderline sexual harasser.

I don't think this is only a case in our culture and will be there in any country you take as an example. It is just that in a confined space of airline seat, this has become a more evident issue and cannot be ignored as 'merry making' as it was done while the same was exhibited on road side / train / bus / marriage / office party.


The drunk passengers aside, I feel its the young / middle age urban male who is the biggest issue. They are the ones which break rules with impunity and still be proud and have a view of entitlement on that.

The aged travelers / first time travelers I have noticed creating scenarios difficult for the flight crew. But that I feel are genuine mistakes when we start to travel newly in aircraft combined with language barriers.

Couldn't agree more about the obnoxious people misbehaving. one another point which also might come into play is while in the flight one usually gets drunk faster. Maybe it's the air or maybe it's the altitude. But my observation is that one tends to get drunk faster.

Originally Posted by Gupts007

Some of these reactions are indeed due to the general behavior of Indian travelers on the airlines but some of it is also due to the racist undertones of Thai Airways. I have travelled extensively from India to Australia and some of it has been with Thai Airways, mostly due to their cheaper fares but their service towards us Indians in general is degrading and insulting.

They do have a different set of benchmarks to treat us. They will not give us the same amount of alcohol that they will give to a white guy who is sitting next to you. Having faced this racism, I vowed never to travel with them again.

If you think Thai Airways is racist - try Air France. I have never ever had to ask a flight attendant for a glass of water thrice and it takes them more than 45 minutes to serve. I think Air France is the worst airline to ever travel in. Though at one level I can't blame them as the fellow passengers (all Indian) were extremely inconsiderate, loud, obnoxious and everything not so nice. In fact the moment the seat belt sign was off, there were a couple of gentleman who simply jumped out of their seat and went to the flight attendant's station (the one where all the trolleys and all are stored - in the middle of the plane) and demanded alcohol.

If anyone has ever been to Pattaya or Phuket - you will see many pubs/bars clearly stating - Indians not allowed. Though extremely insulting, if you just sit around and observe - you will realise that the management of these facilities aren't entirely wrong. You will see lot of drunk Indian males creating a ruckus, being super drunk, super loud, trying to act fresh with every women they encounter and then be absolutely cheap and not pay for anything ever.
I have seen lot of other guests leave from the premises only because of how our fellow countrymen behave.

[chinkara]

The issue is travel from India to the West (or even Thailand) - the airlines have their share of boorish Indian passengers and the crew develop their own mechanisms to handle the same.

I used to regularly fly Thai to many SE Asian locations by the way, no racist incident, but almost always the second leg more pleasant than Delhi-Bangkok.

Air France Delhi Paris experience is very different from Paris Casablanca or Paris Mexico for an Indian. Sorry to say, but there are people who expect the world to defer to their wishes the way their family / village does. You'll see this most in flights from North America to Delhi - loud Auntyjis and Fufajis and Bhaiyajis creating a din and being obnoxious towards fellow passengers and the crew.

Alcohol merely lowers the inhibition, but a bigger problem is the absolute lack of manners instilled in a large section of our ladlaas.