Whatever the blame laid at the door of Indian Airlines, it could never be accused of discriminating against ordinary passengers in favour of the VIPs.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who was flying from Kolkata to Delhi, found this out in a rather harrowing way on November 7. So much so that minister of state for health and family welfare Dinesh Trivedi has asked for a review of the national carriers? working while cataloguing its shortcomings in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In the letter to the PM, Trivedi said Banerjee?s flight first went abegging a pilot, took off only when the pilot Captain AK Mohan, who was on leave, was brought in at the last moment. Finally, the flight landed in Delhi without marshalls and lighted batons.

Banerjee was reportedly furious at the turn of events and Trivedi, a Trinamool MP, has written a five-page letter cataloguing the horrifying experience. ?The flight was originally to be operated by Captain S Nigam, incharge of Air India Operations, Delhi, and Captain AK Mohan was actually on his way to Hyderabad, and was just about to board his flight when he was ordered to operate IC 264 and AI-861 Delhi-Kolkata and Kolkata-Delhi sector,? Trivedi said in his letter. He also revealed that the pilot was dressed in civilian clothes.