Actress Amisha Patel at Newark airport in New Jersey on Saturday. (PTI)

Mumbai, Aug. 19: Air-India is considering plans to put in place a mechanism that will identify passengers with a history of unruly behaviour on board or at airports.

The move follows an inquiry into actress Amisha Patel’s reported scrap with one of its ground staff on Friday.

“We have ordered a probe under a senior official to find out who was wrong. The customer is king by all means, but we also need to put checks and balances to handle passenger tantrums. We will take a call after findings of the probe are in. Either of the two parties involved may be at fault. We don’t want to take a position on the matter before the inquiry is over,” said S. Venkat, Air-India spokesman and company secretary.

A big source of concern is abusive behaviour and tantrums of some passengers on board, especially when drunk.

“We are thinking of creating a system which will identify passengers with a history of misbehaviour through their PNR number and other ticket details. They will either be under discreet watch or, in an extreme case, will not be allowed to fly with us at all,” said Venkat.

Such a mechanism was the “call of the time”, the official said, adding most airports and airlines in developed countries had laws in place to face such situations.

Amisha allegedly abused and threatened a check-in staff who agreed to upgrade her ticket from business to first class but refused to do the same for her friend. The actress had a J-class ticket while her friend was to travel in the economy class. “Their requests were granted later,” said Venkat.

Onlookers and airline staff had to summon the CISF personnel on duty when the actress lost her temper and threatened to hit the girl at the counter after using foul language. She reportedly even said she would talk to civil aviation minister Praful Patel and ensure the girl was sacked.

Amisha and her friend, Sejal Shah, were travelling by the Mumbai-Paris-Newark flight on complimentary tickets which, Venkat said, were provided by the sponsors of her US trip.

The actress may also have to do some explaining to the cops when she returns.

“An FIR was lodged against Amisha on the basis of a non-cognisable complaint by an Air-India employee on Friday. Witnesses have also given us their versions. Airport security is a grave issue and we will question her on the incident once she is back,” said S.K. Chavan, senior police inspector of Sahar police station. Amisha was not available for comment.