Last Updated : Jul 26, 2018 05:51 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

Passenger's tweet on bed bugs in Air India's business class goes viral, airline offers 'waiver'

The airline has mailed to her saying that she will be given a waiver (she will not be charged the penalty fee for cancelling tickets) but there was no mention of 'refund' or 'compensation'.

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In a series of tweets, 36-year-old Saumya Shetty recollected her horror experience on a Mumbai-bound Air India flight which left her with bed bug bites.  Saumya and her three children were traveling business class from Newark to Mumbai last week.

As per a report in The Indian Express, the airline has mailed to her saying that she will be given a waiver (she will not be charged the penalty fee for cancelling tickets) but there was no mention of 'refund' or 'compensation' in the mail.

According to Saumya, despite repeated complaints about the beg bugs, the Air India staff didn’t permit her to change seat and was allowed a seat change a short while before landing. In one of her tweets tagging the media, she said, “Covered in painful bedbug bites all over my body thanks to the business class of #AirIndia is this what you charge for? I only got moved to another seat in the morning when we were landing, it was disgusting! Mind you I was traveling with 3 kids". Shetty was denied refund for her tickets.

Fellow passenger Pravin Tonsekar, tagging Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu, tweeted:"...just arrived from New York on Air India 144 business class with family. All our seats infested with bed bugs. Sir, have heard of bed bugs on trains but shocked to experience on our maharaja and that too business."

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Responding to the allegations and promising to take necessary actions Air India tweeted, “Air India is deeply concerned with a few reports of bugs causing inconvenience to its esteemed passengers. The issue has been viewed seriously, and every possible step is being taken to closely inspect and further strengthen our system at every level to ensure that such isolated incidents of passenger discomfiture do not affect our consistent performance”.
First Published on Jul 26, 2018 05:51 pm