NEW DELHI: In yet another case of VVIP misbehaviour, a member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh allegedly slapped an Air India station manager at Tirupati airport on Thursday for refusing to accept him and his relatives on a flight for which boarding had been closed.

According to sources, a YSR Congress party MP reached the Tirupati airport about 20 to 25 minutes before flight departure time with some of his relatives to board AI 541 to Delhi (where Parliament is in session and MPs are supposed to be in attendance) via Hyderabad. Boarding counters for domestic flights close at least 45 minutes before departure time.

“Since the boarding counter had closed for the 2:30 pm flight when the MP and his entourage reached the airport, the VVIP asked the station manager to accommodate him and his relatives on board. Expressing his inability to do so as boarding had closed, the employee apologised to the MP. The politician flew into a rage and slapped the station manager,” said a source.

The airline asked the employee to file a complaint against the MP. However given the clout that politician wields and given the fact that AI is a government organisation, the employee had till late on Thursday night not filed a police complaint. Highly placed sources said that the MP subsequently pacified the employee and the latter did not file a complaint.

The AI station manager was in the security hold area, supervising the flight's preparedness for take off as boarding counter had been closed. He was called out of the area to meet the MP, where he was slapped after refusing to accept the VVIP and his relatives on board.

“AI chairman Ashwani Lohani has specifically directed that no flight should be delayed for any non-technical reason like accommodating VVIPs. Till now, politicians have treated AI like their 'ghar ki airline' and done what they feel like. So coming late and expecting flights to wait for them has been a common practice for VVIPs. They should now get used to reporting on time or missing flights,” said a source.

Incidentally, in recent times some brave AI pilots have started refusing VVIPs who are late for flights. They flatly tell commercial to clear the plane for take off and not wait for the dignitary. But such brave hearts are very few in number.

Thursday's slapping episode is not the first time that employees of airlines, whether private or government-owned, have desisted from filing complaints against politicians. Recently a Bihar politician had misbehaved with an air hostess of a private airlines. The air hostess did not file a complaint against the MP, whose spouse is also an MP, with the police and just gave her complaint to the airline. The airline did not act on that as it said the employee must file a complaint with the police.