Published 13:27 IST, May 8th 2020
Fact Check: Did Air India charge passengers 3x normal fair under Vande Bharat Mission?
Fact check on a video circulating over social media showing overseas passengers of Air India arguing about being overcharged for the flight. Here's the truth
Origin
A video circulating over social media showed passengers purported to be boarding the Chicago-Delhi flight under Vande Bharat Mission arguing about being overcharged for the flight. The passengers argue about being charged thrice the normal fare and then being forcibly packed inside the flight with little to no respect for the social distancing norms. The video of the argument is being circulated multiple times over social media as well as WhatsApp forwards. It was also allegedly played by a news channel.
This comes a day after India launched its biggest rescue operation amid the COVID-19 pandemic called the-- Vande Bharat Mission to bring back the lakhs of Indian citizens stranded abroad owing to the contagion.
Rating: Fake
While investigating the video, it was found out that the video actually belonged to a neighbouring country's airlines and not Air India. The Ministry of Civil Aviation also busted this fake news stating that the video was from a neighbouring country. Government's fact-checking page- Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check on twitter also shut down this rumour revealing that the video was false and was not from a Chicago-Delhi Air India flight.
It is important to be very careful when it comes to such kinds of messages and links that are shared on social media. All official announcements when it comes to the schemes or operations started by the government are available and can be found out through Government's official websites.
Updated 13:27 IST, May 8th 2020