Air India Penalizes 4,000+ Employees for Travel Program Misuse

Air India has uncovered widespread misuse of its Employee Leisure Travel program by more than 4,000 employees, prompting the airline to impose penalties, demand reimbursements and introduce stricter verification rules to safeguard the benefit.

The internal audit, which examined claims from the previous financial year, revealed that staff members violated eligibility guidelines by registering ineligible individuals as family members to obtain complimentary tickets. In some instances, employees sold these free passages to outsiders for profit, bypassing standard booking channels and potentially causing revenue losses. The program entitles each employee to up to 14 flight segments or equivalent round-trip vouchers annually for personal use by themselves or immediate family, such as spouses and dependent parents.

Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the discrepancies involved falsified documentation, including listing friends or acquaintances as relatives. One source described the issue as raising "fundamental questions of morality and conduct" within the organization. The audit affected nearly 16 percent of Air India's workforce, which exceeds 24,000 employees. While the...