“Are you cheating or following discriminatory/racist policies?”: Indian bureaucrat slams British Airways

An IAS officer, Ashwini Bhide came down heavily on British Airways and said she was downgraded from premium economy at check-in on the false pretext of overbooking.

Bhide, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre took to social media platform X and wrote, “Are you cheating or following discriminatory/racist policies @British_Airways ? How come u downgrade a premium economy passenger at check-in counter on false pretext of overbooking without even paying price difference forget about compensation? I’m told this is a common practice by BA @CSMIA Mumbai,” tagging British Airways, Mumbai Airport, DGCA and Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia.



In a reply to her post, the airline said: "We're sorry to hear what happened and apologise for the inconvenience caused this has caused."

Many users responded to her post, expressing their disapproval of the airline's practices. "Their (British Airways) customer service is by far the worst compared with other airlines. We had the similar experience of downgrading just before the checkin from business to premium economy. BA Staff was rude and impatient," wrote a user.

Another user said, "Taking money from premium class and not paying back after downgrade is cheating. BA should be fined."

"I was too downgraded from business class to crappy premium economy and am still awaiting the fare difference. I was flying from Mumbai to London," wrote another.