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Kunal Kamra’s Namesake From Boston Mistakenly Told He Is No Longer “Valid To Fly” Air India

byAkanksha Agarwal
6th February 2020
2 minute read

A couple of days back, stand up comedian Kunal Kamra was suspended from flying with airlines such as IndiGo, Spicejet, Air India, and GoAir for allegedly “heckling” and “slandering” journalist Arnab Goswami onboard a Mumbai-Lucknow flight. Subsequently, he issued a legal notice to IndiGo airlines demanding an “unconditional apology, removal of ban and compensation of Rs. 25 lakhs”.

Now, it seems that a man residing in Boston, US, who is in India for a family function was caught in the crossfire because his name is also Kunal Kamra. On February 3, he was denied entry on an Air India flight from Jaipur to Mumbai and told that he was no longer “valid to fly”, reports The Hindu.

Hindustan Times quoted him saying,

“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. 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.”

The Times of India quoted Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar saying,

“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.”

After this unpleasant experience, when he had to board another flight from Mumbai to Delhi via IndiGo, Mr. Kamra called up the airline beforehand to ensure a similar mistake wasn’t committed again.

Cover Image Source – left, right

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