Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to social media on Saturday to share his dissatisfaction with Air India following an uncomfortable flying experience. Chouhan was traveling from Bhopal to Delhi on flight AI436 when he was allegedly allotted a broken and sunken seat.
In a post on X, Chouhan revealed that he was assigned seat 8C, which he found to be damaged and uncomfortable. “When I asked the airline staff why such a seat was allotted, they admitted that management had been informed earlier and advised against selling tickets for it. Shockingly, there were several such defective seats on the flight,” he wrote.
Despite being offered alternative seating by fellow passengers, Chouhan chose to remain in his assigned seat to avoid inconveniencing others. The minister was traveling for a packed schedule, including inaugurating the Kisan Mela in Pusa, attending a meeting of the Natural Farming Mission in Kurukshetra and holding discussions with representatives of farmer organisations in Chandigarh.
Expressing disappointment, Chouhan criticised Air India’s service quality under its new management. “I had hoped that Air India’s service would improve after Tata took over, but that seems to have been a misconception,” he said.
Chouhan called the practice of charging passengers full fare for broken seats “unethical” and questioned whether the airline would address the issue to prevent future inconveniences.
Air India replied to the minister’s post and wrote, “Dear Sir, we apologize for the inconvenience caused. Please be rest assured that we are looking into this matter carefully to prevent any such occurrences in the future. We would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you, kindly DM us a convenient time to connect.”