NEW DELHI: Members of Parliament want airlines to automatically upgrade them to the business class if there is a seat vacant. This demand was raised by some MPs at a meeting of the standing committee on food, consumer affairs and public distribution on Thursday.This panel is headed by Telugu Desam Party's J C Divakar Reddy, who was accused of roughing up IndiGo staffers last June at Visakhapatnam airport when he was initially denied boarding after reporting late for a flight to Hyderabad - and he was among those who put this demand before aviation secretary R N Choubey.Reddy told TOI, "If there is vacant seat in business class then the seat should be given to MPs. This is all that I told the aviation ministry."Samajwadi Party's Ravi Prakash Verma said the issue was different. "We MPs are entitled to business class travel and get business class tickets. Airlines often say that the business class is full and since it is necessary to travel, MPs have to travel in economy despite holding business class tickets. On boarding the plane, they see vacant seats in business section. This is a malpractice by airlines," Verma said.To be fair, airlines refund fare difference to passengers in case a person holding business class ticket has to travel in economy for any reason like last-minute change of aircraft to an all-economy one .