Glancing at the model of a flying machine hanging from the ceiling at Ibn Battuta Mall, I wondered what it is like to be banned from flying.

I was reading a news flash on my smartphone as I window-shopped that a lawmaker from the far-right Shiv Sena party has been barred from flying on Air India after he hit the duty manager several times with his footwear. The legislator claimed the reason he lost it was because he was made to sit in Economy Class though he had a Business Class ticket.

I have flown in Economy Class most of my life and I must admit it is not so bad to make me go berserk and start beating up airline staff with my Bata shoes.

The incident ignited nationwide outrage and the airline banned MP Ravindra Gaikwad from flying as he refused to apologise. His party continues to support him, forgetting the fact a legislator is elected to look after the interests of the public, not to thrash them. Since he was refused a seat on the airline, the MP made a booking through a call centre for a flight to Delhi. The airline found out it was him and cancelled his ticket. He then booked a flight from another city to the Indian capital, but he was again detected and his ticket cancelled again.

Desperate, Gaikwad decided to drive down to Delhi as he had to attend a parliamentary meeting. I looked up Cleartrip and found that it takes 22 hours and seven minutes to make the trip from Mumbai to Delhi on National Highway 48. (A non-stop flight takes two hours and 15 minutes).

The MP reached Delhi, but did not attend the parliamentary session, but decided to attend the proceedings the next day. No reason was given but I can imagine the poor chap’s condition as a day-long drive usually makes your backside very sore.

One person who did the same trip with a Fiat Grand Punto (diesel version) described his journey on carwale.com and said it took him two days, with a night halt at the breathtaking lake city of Udaipur. He said the most comfortable part of the drive was on the highway from Vadodara to Ahmedabad where you can cruise at a speed of 120km/h. The motorist had a tip for intrepid travellers: make sure you know how to change a tyre and set up a jack.

The legislator must have been driven to Delhi and apparently did not have time to enjoy the scenery, fuming at the airline throughout the trip. Either he or his travel agent earlier tried various tricks such as spelling his name differently, even making him ‘Professor Gaikwad’ in one booking, but it did not help. An Air India staffer said the legislator does not realise the airline can find out who is planning to fly as the bookings are made through a coupon issued by parliament.

Our friend tried to make bookings on private airlines and four of them kicked him out of the booking system; the Federation of Indian Airlines has taken a stand against such unruly passengers. One official of a private airline said the lawmaker must apologise and express remorse for what he did.

Many American airlines have banned unruly passengers for life and now India is thinking of a law to bar drunk and disruptive passengers, thanks to the Sena lawmaker. Hopefully, he would be driven to a life of seeing the sights between Mumbai and Delhi until he retires.

Incidentally, the flying machine at Ibn Battuta traces how 70-year-old Abbas Bin Firas started the quest for flight 1,000 years ago in Muslim Spain. He would have been happy to know that unruly people are being barred from the skies.

Mahmood Saberi is a freelance journalist based in Dubai. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ mahmood_saberi.