Air India Rejects UK Lawyer's Claims of ‘Ethically Outrageous’ Behaviour With Bereaved Families

New Delhi: Air India should be “ashamed” of its “ethically outrageous” behaviour towards the families of people who died in the crash of its flight 171 three weeks ago, The Guardian reported aviation lawyer Peter Neenan as saying on Thursday (July 3).

Bereaved families were put into a cramped, small room and asked to fill out a complicated questionnaire that also required divulging sensitive financial information, the lawyer, who is representing some bereaved families, told the magazine.

However, Air India has rejected putting the families under pressure. In a statement to The Telegraph on July 4, Air India called Neenan’s claims “unsubstantiated and inaccurate” and that it was making “considerable efforts” to process interim compensation to the family members.

‘Ethically outrageous behaviour’

Air India flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, including 53 British nationals.

Aviation lawyer Neenan told The Guardian that relatives who went to identify their loved ones’ remains in the days after the crash “were put in a “small, crowded room” along with other bereaved families and ‘told to fill out documentation and a complicated questionnaire asking for important financial information’.

According to The Guardian, Neenan, a partner at the UK law firm Stewarts, has represented families in several airline disasters, including the crashes of Malaysia Airlines flights 17 and 370 in 2014, and has now been engaged to represent families who lost their loved ones in the AI171 air crash.

Bereaved families were asked to provide information on whether they were “financially dependent” on their relatives who died in the crash, The Guardian reported.

The families were also not given ‘any warning, legal advice or a copy of the documents’; some families also told him that Air India officials visited their homes and asked why they had not yet filled in their forms, Neenan told The Guardian.

“We are advising our clients not to complete this form and to seek specialist legal advice,” The Guardian quoted Neenan as saying. “We are shocked and appalled that Air India is seeking this information from families when they are at their most vulnerable. They should feel ashamed.”

According to Neenan, Air India told the families that they would not be paid compensation unless they filled out the forms. However as per law, families are required to only provide proof of identity and sign a receipt, he said.

Air India could be looking to save at least 100 million pounds by under-compensating bereaved families, Neenan claimed.

Air India rejects claims

In a statement to The Telegraph on July 4, Air India rejected Neenan’s claims that they were putting pressure on the bereaved families.

The airline sought “basic information” from family members to facilitate advance payments, Air India said.

“Whilst the questionnaire does ask family members to indicate with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as to whether they are ‘financially dependent’ on the deceased, the airline believes that the process is entirely fair and necessary in order to process the payments to those most in need of assistance. Starting June 15, a facilitation centre was established by the airline at the Taj Skyline hotel in Ahmedabad, where the questionnaire relating to interim compensation was made available,” Air India said in the statement.

“Air India has been making considerable efforts to process payment of interim compensation (also referred to as advance compensation) as soon as possible, in order to meet the immediate financial needs of affected family members, with the first payments having been made within days of the accident,” The Telegraph quoted Air India as saying.

The Tata Group, which owns Air India, had announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore for each of the families affected by the crash.

“In addition to any compensation that will be provided by Air India, the Tata Group has announced a voluntary ex-gratia payment of Rs 1 crore or approximately GBP 85,000 to the families of each of the deceased. A trust with a corpus of around Rs 500 crore or approximately GBP 43 million is being set up to manage and disburse this ex-gratia amount and provide long-term assistance to the families. These families will forever be part of the Tata family. All these efforts are voluntary and in addition to any compensation payable by Air India under law,” the airline said in its statement.

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