Senior citizen: Scourge of airlines?

Time of India

11-05-2025

Amit Kumar was trained as a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from the University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal. Post his graduation, he decided to pursue a career in renewable energy, a novelty in the early eighties. He had retired from TERI in July 2021 whereas Senior Director, Social Transformation, was responsible for initiatives focusing on energy access, holistic rural development, and community engagement. There he had also led research activities in the fields of renewable energy and resource-efficient process technology applications. As Dean (Distance & Short-Term Education), TERI University between 2014 and 2016, he was responsible for the development and outreach of the University's online courses, management & faculty development programmes, and skill enhancement initiatives. LESS ... MORE
Very recently when I boarded a non-stop flight to the land of liberty, I was surprised by extra suffusive welcome being accorded by the flight attendants to a senior citizen like me, which even by their standards appeared phoney. But it was just the beginning. Unlike the earlier journeys, this time an attendant came promptly to put my carry-on in the overhead bin. I sensed as if she gave a once over to my bag. But I brushed that aside as a figment of my imagination. However, one thing could not have been more conspicuous. The crew was extra attentive in tucking me in my blanket with focus on the blanket, naturally. As I had to visit lavatory a number of times on due to my age; this time whenever I got up, one of the crew would silently come and accost me there and in guise of helping me out, would open up the door and be there till I locked it from the inside. I was really touched by this level of courtesy unheard of in the economy class. So impressed was I that upon reaching the destination I must have narrated it a number of times. At home as I was glancing through the old newspapers, I noticed a news item about the return of a flight on account of the choked toilets. Tucked away in that new article was some quotes, which read like: 'A former pilot requesting anonymity said, 'Flights that have more senior citizens and kids are the ones that encounter such issues.' Now the reality dawned on me.
I recollected those strange sightings that I ignored during my earlier long-distance flights. At times I noticed – particularly when the cabin lights were dim and most of the passengers were either dozing off or busy with their inflight entertainment systems, if they were working, that is – that some senior citizens would get up and surreptitiously take out some clothe-like items (some distinctly looked like rags) from their carry-on bags and shuffle to lavatories. Some rather old passengers actually were going to toilets very frequently, always with their hands full while going but coming back empty-handed. Only now, after reading the observations of that former pilot, I realised that those senior citizens were paying through their nose just so that they could undertake long flights to dispose off their old clothing and rags that they must be collecting for such journeys. What was thought off as old-age issue took a sinister turn all of a sudden. Or perhaps they were showing their appreciation for airline's 'notch apart passenger experience' by shoving such articles down the toilet. Or could there be a simple explanation? Considering that such an act would require quite a bit of physical exertion for a senior citizen, was it a way to let the body do some in-flight cardio?
Whatever maybe the real reason, the outcome was fast and furious. On one hand, senior citizens are now required to fill-in a self-declaration form at the time of booking that they will not undertake such an unlawful activity while aboard; some of the airlines have already started retrofitting the aircrafts such that senior citizens sit in clusters under constant electronic surveillance. If they want to go to lavatory, they must request a flight attendant to escort them. In addition, blankets are now being firmly secured to the seats. Rather than the concessional fares, it's time now to charge more from the senior citizens for all their mile-high follies! The only mystery is that why, statistically speaking, most of such incidents are happening on long-duration flights coming to India and not in the outgoing ones (repercussions of jet lag?), that too in the Indian carriers (too homely?)? And presumably those who emptied their bladders on their co-passengers too must have been the senior citizens.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.