With United Airlies recently being in the news for physically dragging a paying passenger off a plane to accommodate their staff, reader Gulserene Dastur shared on Facebook an anecdote about her father Nari, who served as head of reservations for Air India in Bombay in 1949-50.
An early Air-India plane Photo: skyscrapercity.com; Nari Dastur
At that time, planes had 25 seats, and he had to deal with an overbooked flight as a junior reservation officer. He caught sight of an Englishman who "looked to be what he described as an NCO (non-commissioned officer) type wearing flannels.” Nari walked up to him and said breezily: "Look here, old chap, do you think you can help me out of a bind? We’re overbooked, we need one extra seat, and if you agree to fly tomorrow instead, I can arrange for you to spend the night at the Taj (Hotel) with an unlimited liquor tab.” The man turned round and slowly said, "Young man...” Gulserene related that Nari knew then he was in trouble. "I happen to be the governor of the Bank of England, and I’m expected at a budget meeting right after I land, so I won’t be taking up your tempting offer, thank you,” he said. Nari turned his attention elsewhere. Half an hour later the governor spotted Nari talking to someone else. He put a friendly arm around Nari’s shoulder and asked, "Found your sucker, yet?”
In an email to Parsiana, the daughter shares another snippet: In those years, Air India was plagued by over bookings. Nari was one of three young reservation officers who shared a desk, responsible for clearing one daily flight. Nari noticed that one of his two colleagues had no trouble dissuading passengers from giving up their seat on a particularly overbooked flight... He would just disappear for an hour or so with his passenger list, and suddenly, cancellations would start pouring in. The two others, including Nari decided to follow him. He went to a nearby cafe where he ordered a snack and headed straight for the phone booth. Nari and his colleague "stalked him and watched him run through the passenger list, dialling numbers, and saying in a thick fake accent ‘Hello? Mr Venkataraman? You do not know me, but I am a Swami, my name is of no importance. Last night, I had a dream about you...I dreamt about you and your family. You are flying out of India on April 23? I very worried. That (is the) most inauspicious day! Very danger(ous). Do not fly on that date! Fly on 26th, that date (is) much better. You’re welcome. Good bye.’ Then he (would) saunter back to the office and wait for the cancellations to pour in.”