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Air India mistakenly cancelled the ticket of a Boston-based man, namesake of comedian Kunal Kamra, on its Jaipur-Mumbai flight of February 3, according to senior officials.
However, he was reissued the ticket and allowed to board the flight once the airline staff at the Jaipur airport realised that he is not the comedian who is on the no-fly list of four airlines, including Air India, the officials said.
Kamra was banned by IndiGo for six months on January 28 for allegedly harassing Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami on its Mumbai-Lucknow flight.
As Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri advised other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the comedian, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India imposed a similar ban on him without specifying any period.
When asked about the February 3 incident, an Air India spokesperson on Wednesday said, "Comedian Kunal Kamra is banned to board in Air India. It's mentioned in our system that's why his (man's) name was automatically rejected. But after verification of all the credentials of the passenger, we allowed him to board the flight."
On the matter of banning comedian Kamra from flying, two airlines of the Tata group -- Vistara and AirAsia India -- have stated that they are "reviewing" the matter.