Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday called out Air India for allotting him a “broken” seat on a flight from Bhopal to Delhi. In a strongly worded post on X, Chouhan described the seat as “sunken and uncomfortable” and questioned why passengers were being sold tickets for defective seats.
“I had booked a ticket on Air India flight AI436 and was allotted seat number 8C. When I sat, I sank into it—it was uncomfortable,” he wrote, adding that fellow passengers offered him a better seat, but he chose to remain in his assigned seat to avoid inconveniencing others.
Chouhan claimed that when he confronted airline staff, they admitted that the management had already been informed about the faulty seat and had been advised against selling tickets for it. “Not just one, but many such seats exist,” he alleged, questioning whether Air India planned to fix these issues or continue “taking advantage of passengers’ compulsion to reach their destination.”
His remarks also took a swipe at Air India’s transition under the Tata Group, expressing disappointment in the airline’s service post-merger with Vistara. “I thought Air India’s service would improve after Tata took over, but it seems I was mistaken,” he remarked.
Calling it “unethical” to charge full fare for a faulty seat, he directly questioned, “Isn’t this cheating the passengers?”
In response, Air India issued an apology, stating that it is “carefully looking into the matter to prevent future occurrences.” The airline also requested Chouhan to connect privately to discuss the issue further.