Bhopal: BJP MP Pragya Thakur filed a complaint with theBhopal Airport Director alleging that she was not allotted the seat that shehad booked in a Spicejet flight and the conduct of the airline crew with her was not right. The Lok Sabha MP filed the complaint on Saturday after allegedly being inconvenienced on board a flight.

"I informed the authorities that the SpiceJet crew had misbehaved with me. This had happened once before as well and this time I wasnot even given the seat which was booked by me," Thakur told .

"I approached the Airport Director and filed a written complaint with him regarding the same. Trains, flights are for the convenience of the public, as public representatives we are responsible for the treatment common people will get. Therefore, it was my responsibility to file a complaint regarding this," she added.

Anil Vikram, Airport Director, Bhopal acknowledged receiving a written complaint from the Bhopal MP and added that an inquiry is being held,as a part of which the SpiceJet crew will be questioned regarding the incident.

Reacting to the BJP MP's complaint and protest over'ill-treatment' by the airline, the Spicejet said that it regretted theinconvenience faced by the controversial Member of Parliament from Bhopal,however, adding that safety of passengers is of utmost importance for theairline.

In its clarification, the airline said that Thakur was notallowed to sit on the pre-allotted seat as it was in the first row -- theemergency row -- where seats are not allocated to passengers on wheelchairs.The airline said that its staff was not aware that she was a wheelchairpassenger as she had not booked the wheelchair through the airline and had comeon her own wheelchair.

"SpiceJet had the privilege to have Pragya Thakur onboard SpiceJet flight SG 2498 (Delhi-Bhopal) on December 21. She had pre-bookedseat 1A and had come to the airport in her own wheelchair. The Delhi-Bhopalflight is operated by Bombardier Q400 aircraft (78 seaters). On this aircraft,the first row is the emergency row seat and is not allocated to passengers onwheelchairs. As the Thakur had come with her own wheelchair and had not bookedthrough the airline, the staff wasn`t aware of this fact that she was awheelchair passenger," a SpiceJet spokesperson said.

It further said that she was requested by the crew to shiftto "2 A/B (non-emergency row)" due to safety reasons but she refused.The duty manager and other staff also requested her to move to another seat,while she asked for the safety instruction document wherein the exit doorpolicy is mentioned and the same was shown to her to provide clarity.

"As the flight was getting delayed other passengerswere becoming restless and requested Thakur to change her seat but she refused.Other passengers also requested the airline staff to offload Thakur as sherefused to change her seat. Finally, Pragya Thakur agreed to change her seatfrom 1A to 2B and the flight departed."

"We regret for the inconvenience caused. However,safety of our passengers is paramount at SpiceJet," the spokespersonadded.