Sanjeev Varshney, a marketing professor at XLRI, shared on LinkedIn a disturbing incident involving his family and an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Ranchi. His LinkedIn post drew attention to passenger safety and social sensitivity issues after a lizard caused major disruption on the flight.
According to Varshney’s account, his wife and 12-year-old son noticed a black lizard on the plane while boarding. Concerned for the safety and comfort of all passengers, Varshney’s wife immediately reported the sighting to a flight attendant. The attendant advised her not to raise the issue in public to avoid causing panic and assured her that the ground staff would handle the situation.
« Are Indians socially responsible? Today (September 1), my wife and 12-year-old son boarded an IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) flight from Mumbai to Ranchi. While boarding, my son and wife saw a black lizard on the plane. After taking their own seat (about 7 seats behind the seat on which they saw the lizard), my wife informed the air hostess about the lizard. She replied to my wife, ma’am, please don’t talk about it, otherwise it will create panic, » he added.
“She informed the ground staff and they will take care of it. Let the boarding happen. My wife did not mention it. After some time, the ground staff came and took my wife out of the plane and asked about the entire incident. They asked my wife to sit in row 1 instead of the seat she was previously assigned in row 32. The ground staff came with brooms and bucket etc. to catch the lizard along with some spray. Even after a lot of effort, they could not catch it. Finally, they arranged another plane and asked everyone to deboard,” he said at the platform.
“During disembarkation, many passengers started insulting my son. They were saying: how can someone be afraid of a lizard and because of it, the flight was delayed. Many were saying that there are lizards at home too, so why leave the house because of them? The staff did not want to take any risk and simply asked people to disembark and asked my wife to ignore these people. My son has been feeling victimized ever since. My complaint: how can a lizard enter a plane? Why was boarding allowed even after my wife reported it? Finally, how insensitive are people? They do not care that if during the flight a lizard starts running here and there, it will not create panic among people. How can they blame my son?” “India is becoming sensitive and socially responsible towards others,” Sanjeev Varshney, professor of marketing at XLRI, wrote in an article.
Despite the crew’s assurances, the lizard was not caught quickly. Ground staff boarded the plane, took Varshney’s family out, and tried to capture the lizard using brooms, a bucket, and a spray bottle. Their efforts were in vain. Ultimately, the airline decided to cancel the flight and arrange a replacement, which resulted in all passengers being disembarked.
Upon disembarking, Varshney reported that many passengers made angry comments to his son. Some criticized the child for causing the delay, while others questioned why they could not tolerate the presence of a lizard, suggesting that it was no different from having a lizard in the home.
The incident left Varshney’s son feeling victimised and Varshney expressed his concerns about the situation in his post. He questioned how the lizard entered the plane and why boarding was allowed despite the reported problem. He also expressed concerns about the insensitivity of the passengers who blamed his son for the disruption.
In his message, Varshney called for greater social responsibility and sensitivity in handling such situations. He highlighted the potential safety risks of having a lizard on the plane, including the possibility of it causing panic during the flight. Varshney stressed the need for a more empathetic response from the airline and other passengers.
IndiGo airline has not yet publicly responded to Varshney’s complaint.
