Air India mistakenly cancelled the ticket of a Boston-based man, namesake of comedian Kunal Kamra, on its Jaipur-Mumbai flight of February 3, according to senior officials.
However, he was reissued the ticket and allowed to board the flight once the airline staff at the Jaipur airport realised that he is not the comedian who is on the no-fly list of four airlines, including Air India, the officials said.
The comedian was banned by IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India for six months on January 28 for allegedly heckling journalist Arnab Goswami on an IndiGo’s Mumbai-Lucknow flight.
Boston-based Kamra, who was in Jaipur to meet his family, said he was shocked when the airline staff at the check-in counter denied him a boarding pass as he was blacklisted by the airline. “I was at the airport for two-and-a-half hours before the flight departure time and was informed about the cancellation of my ticket only when I approached the check-in counter. I had to show multiple identity cards to prove that I wasn’t the person who they thought I was,” said the flier, adding that it was an “unpleasant experience”, but the airline staff was helpful.
Kamra, who is to return to Boston over the weekend, said, “I fail to understand how my PNR, which is unique to a passenger, be cancelled for having the same name as that of a blacklisted passenger.”
Air India issued a statement clarifying what transpired at Jaipur airport on Wednesday. “Comedian Kunal Kamra is banned from boarding Air India. It’s mentioned in our system and that’s why his name was automatically rejected. But after verification of all the credentials of the passenger, we allowed him to board,” said Dhananjay Kumar, Air India spokesperson.
Comedian Kunal Kamra, too, reacted to the incident on Twitter and called it “collateral damage”.