In the past few days, a YouTube video made by a person claiming to be an Air India pilot has been surfacing over social media channels.
In the video (which starts with a disclaimer that its not meant to hurt the company's feelings!), the person dresses up as a pilot and receives a call from "Movement Control Delhi" that informs him that his flight is cancelled (again).
Then, the ranting about the state-owned Indian carrier Air India starts in a rap style.
The person in video highlights about the non-payment of salary for five months, people in Air India not retiring for long, the age factor (60s) of air hostesses, and ends the video by saying he wishes to serve Air India forever.
The video was posted in an YouTube account named "Vivus Studios" on February 13 and has since been viewed 71,000+ times.
The official Facebook page name was also given as Vivus Studios. Not sure whether the pilot was planning to venture into music industry by using Air India's brand as a platform.
We tried contacting both the person in video and Air India official about this incident, but no reply as yet.
However, according to AFP, G P Rao, a spokesperson for Air India, says:
"He works for us, yes. We are looking into the issue. The management will decide how to go about it."
The Times of India (TOI) reported that the 28-year old Dreamliner co-pilot has given a written apology to the management over the allegedly "sexist" lyrics. The airline says it will speak to the creator of the video and review his past conduct before taking a final decision on him.
Of course, some will wonder if the pilot would've had the time to create the video if the aircraft he usually flies was back in service after its own problems in recent weeks.
Nevertheless, this is not the first time social media has caused someone to land in trouble in travel industry.
Earlier this month, Tatiana Kozlenko, an air hostess of Russian airline Aeroflot, lost her job because of social media. Aeroflot management says that she posted a picture that appears to show a flight attendant giving the finger to a cabin full of passengers.
But Kozlenko claims that she just tagged in the picture on a social media channel and neither the finger did not belong to her, nor was it an Aeroflot plane.
Lest we also forget, the now infamous United Breaks Guitars saga from a few years back.
A United passenger flying to Nebraska made a video (with a song composition) about his experience with United. In the video, he explains how United broke his custom-made guitar being transported in the hold.
The video has 12+ million views in YouTube to date. This incident costed $180 million worth of brand damage to United. It didn’t stop there - there is now a book about the incident.