Life is unpredictable. Just last month, Mayank Sharma, a cabin crew member with Air India, had made his family proud, his friends were full of praise for him and he would recount how proud he felt. After all Mayank was part of the cabin crew team that had helped in the evacuation of people from war-torn Yemen. But today is a different day for him. He has been served a termination letter by the Air India management.

Sources tell Headlines Today that Mayank lost his job for insisting on a mandatory 22 hour rest period after landing in Jeddah on 29th April. Confirming Mayank Sharma's termination, Air India spokesperson said that the crew member has been sacked over disciplinary issues.

"He's a habitual offender and has delayed many flights in the past as well. He has written many complaint letters in the past. Often passengers have been inconvenienced because of him. So the company has decided to terminate his services" said an AI spokesperson.

Headlines Today on the April 1 had reported how a cabin crew and a commander had a heated argument in Jeddah over DGCA's mandated rest period for the cabin crew. The situation got so out of hand that the next day the pilot of flight AI 966 to Hyderabad left the crew member stranded and flew out of Jeddah. This crew member spent nearly 30 hours in Jeddah before the management intervened realising that he was all set to approach the Indian Embassy.

Surprisingly, no action till now has been initiated against the commander who flew with 11 crew members instead of the mandatory minimum requirement of 12 crew members for the huge Boeing 747-400. A crew less meant that an emergency door was declared inoperative. This was a clear violation of DGCA rules for in an emergency situation there wouldn't have been any crew member to manage that door.

The Flight Standards Department is now looking into the matter to ascertain whether there was any rule violation or not. An official of DGCA on condition of anonymity said "A report has been asked from Air India on what exactly happened. It is important to see under what circumstances did the commander operated the flight."

Another official said that the pilot should have amicably resolved the issue or called up some competent authority. "Making a scene in a foreign land like this is not good," he added.

All India Cabin Crew Association has termed this action as unfortunate. AICCA alleges that the crew member has been terminated because he was exposing the mismanagement and officials of the airline and to cover the lapses such a harsh action has been taken. The association has also written a letter to the DGCA. The letter states that Mayank Sharma went beyond the call of duty, risked his life and was ready on a short notice for the Yemen evacuation work but the country has treated him in such an ill manner. The letter also asks DGCA to intervene in the matter.

Mayank's colleagues say that that he wrote multiple mails to the CMD and other officials on the issue but received no response and that he was later asked to pay the hotel bill as well. They also allege that the commander of the flight has had a history of abusing cabin crew.