Air India Responds After Passenger Finds Cockroach In Food On Delhi-New York Flight

The aviation sector in India has a long history. India’s aviation sector has gone through many stages, from monopoly to government control to more liberalization and competition. Today, India is one of the world’s largest aviation markets, with a wide range of domestic and foreign airlines operating there. However, along with this expansion, the aviation sector has also had to deal with issues, mainly pertaining to passengers’ comfort and safety. Some issues that have always made headlines are flawed in-flight hygiene and broken catering systems.

Recently, a passenger on an Air India flight found a cockroach in her meal. The matter, within no time, attracted so much negative attention that even Airlines had to issue an official statement.

A passenger on an Air India flight found a cockroach in her inflight food

A passenger on an Air India flight from Delhi to New York has raised a complaint after discovering a cockroach in an onboard omelet. The passenger revealed in a post on X that she and her two-year-old toddler had consumed over half of the egg when she discovered the cockroach. She also mentioned that, as a result, they had food poisoning. Along with the video and pictures, she tagged Air India, DGCA, and Civil Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu in the post. In the post, she wrote,

Found a cockroach in the omelette served to me on the @airindia flight from Delhi to New York. My 2 year old finished more than half of it with me when we found this. Suffered from food poisoning as a result. @DGCAIndia @RamMNK

Found a cockroach in the omelette served to me on the @airindia flight from Delhi to New York. My 2 year old finished more than half of it with me when we found this. Suffered from food poisoning as a result. @DGCAIndia @RamMNK pic.twitter.com/1Eyc3wt3Xw

— Suyesha Savant (@suyeshasavant) September 28, 2024

How did Air India react to the incident?

Soon, her post went viral and generated a lot of chatter about the reputation of Air India. As a result, Air India wasted no time in responding to it. Replying to the above-mentioned post, Air India wrote,

Dear Ms. Savant, we’re very sorry to hear about your experience. Please share your booking details via DM so that we can investigate promptly.

Dear Ms. Savant, we’re very sorry to hear about your experience. Please share your booking details via DM so that we can investigate promptly.

— Air India (@airindia) September 28, 2024

In response, the spokesperson for Air India released a formal statement promising that the company is taking these kinds of occurrences seriously. In order to stop them from happening again, they have started an investigation with their catering partner. The spokesperson said,

We are aware of a social media post by a passenger regarding a foreign object in the onboard meal offered to them on Al 101 operating from DEL to JFK on 17 September 2024.

He added,

We will take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in future.

Furthermore, the spokesman added that Air India collaborates with reputable caterers who provide food to top airlines worldwide. Those caterers also follow strict SOPs and go through several inspections to guarantee the quality of the food.

How people reacted to in the incident?

As soon as the post went viral, the matter was gone out of hand. Consequently, Air India received tons of negative reviews. Have a look at some of the comments:

This is horrible @airindia my wife kept asking for assistance from the in flight staff but they seemed completely helpless.
Uncomfortable journey for parents spouse and my 2 year old daughter. Aircraft seats not maintained, Food & Hygiene you can see in the pics. A direct flight…

— Kunal Sharma (@Kunalcomposure) September 28, 2024

What non sense air India is doing?

— Bharat TV (@tiw96079) September 28, 2024

It’s very https://t.co/jg0uH7raoI also cannot skip food in long haul flights.Air india must answer for such mishaps repeatedly.

— Bhadresh Shah (@shahenggs68) September 28, 2024

I hv listed@airindia in no fly list airlines.

— MANOJ KUMAR (@sakhiherbals) September 28, 2024

I still fail to understand why do people fly @airindia – I think we should all take stand and say “No to Air India”.
I hope @SingaporeAir at least do not have a code sharing with @airindia though it has 25% stake on it.

— Dippies (@sdippies) September 28, 2024

What do you think about Air India’s response? Is it enough or does Air India seriously need to ramp up its catering system?