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An Air India passenger has slammed the airline after she reportedly found a cockroach in the in-flight meal that she and her two-year-old toddler were sharing.
Suyesha Savant, an India-based journalist, was on a flight from Delhi to New York with her young child when she discovered that a cockroach was hiding in the omelette that was served to her on board.
“My two-year-old finished more than half of it with me when we found this,” she wrote on X on Saturday. “Suffered from food poisoning as a result.”
Included in her post, which has since gained almost 100,000 views, were pictures of the half-finished meal with what appears to be the head of a dead cockroach inside the omelette.
She also posted a video of the meal, where she explained that her flight was filled with other issues, claiming that part of one of her booked seats was broken and the back seat pocket was not clean, as it had “waste bottles” lying inside.
“When I alerted the staff about it [the back seat pocket] they said it was a mistake,” Savant said. “But, how many mistakes?”
Air India’s X account responded to the viral post, saying that they were “very sorry to hear about your experience” and asked her to share her booking details with them.
“We’re forwarding the same internally to investigate the matter. We truly appreciate your patience,” they added.
A spokesperson for Air India told Fox Business that they were aware of the incident and said the airline “works with reputed caterers who supply to leading airlines globally and have stringent SOPs [standard operating procedures] and multiple checks to ensure quality of meals served to our guests”.
They went on: “We are concerned about the experience of the customer in the said instance and have taken it up with our catering service provider to investigate it further.
“We will take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in future.”
The incident comes two weeks after another video went viral showing the “gross” and “unclean” conditions of a first-class cabin on an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi.
Entrepreneur Anip Patel posted a video on 17 September showing that his first-class seat, which cost $6,300, had ripped furnishings, dirt around his seat and a broken in-flight entertainment system.
“There were things moving in every compartment; everything was ripped, ruined or had mildew on it. I understand regular wear and tear, but this was next level,” Patel said in the TikTok video.
Mr Patel also claimed that there was no wifi within the cabin and that his in-flight entertainment system was not working, despite the flight attendant coming back four or five times to try and restart it.
He said he “raw-dogged” the entire 15-hour flight without internet access or entertainment.
Mr Patel later added that, after the video gained online traction, Air India gave him a full refund for his first-class seat.
The Independent has contacted Air India for comment.
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