In another case of contentious treatment of Indian sportspersons, private airline Jet Airways reportedly refused to allow Indian shooters Anjali Bhagwat and Heena Sidhu from carrying their shooting equipment aboard a flight from Bangkok to Mumbai.
Bhagwat and Sidhu were returning from Busan to Mumbai and they had to change the flight at the Bangkok airport. The official from Jet Airways in Bangkok reportedly said that their documents were incomplete.
What is interesting is that Sidhu and Bhagwat had boarded a Korean Air flight with the same documentation and shooting equipment.
The two shooters had to look for a fresh flight at Bangkok. They eventually took an 8 am flight to India after shelling out $800 (approximately Rs 49,876).
"It was harassment. We were not only forced to arrange for tickets, but also had to spend the night outside Bangkok airport. It all happened because of the ignorance of the Jet Airways staff about sports weapons and the documents we were carrying," Heena was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
"First, we got visa on arrival and then went to the Jet Airways counter to enquire about the matter where security manager Shailesh Gala told us that our documents were incomplete. That's why they didn’t allow the weapons. When we argued that we had DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) permission to carry the weapons from India to Busan, he said 'back' was not mentioned in the permission. When we asked him to give it in writing the basis on which they had denied us permission to carry the weapons, he refused,” said Heena.
