Bad service and poor food are one thing, but bed bugs? It takes “horrible flight” to a whole new level.
Several passengers aboard an Air India 777-300 from Newark to Mumbai found their business class seats infested with bed bugs. Look at these pictures:
@airindiain @sureshpprabhu @narendramodi_in Suresh Prabhuji – 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 pic.twitter.com/m2GnfOpTO3
— Pravin Tonsekar (@pat_tons) July 17, 2018
This discovery forced these business class passengers to “seek refuge” in economy class for the remainder of the flight. To add insult to injury, the passengers found broken tray tables and inoperative in-flight-entertainment in the back. I’ll return to that in a moment.
More importantly, though, passengers were bitten. Pravin Tonsekar, who tweeted the pictures above after his flight landed in Mumbai also tweeted a picture of his daughter covered in bed bug bites.
Too late !!! Such a thing should not have happened in the first place . My wife and daughters had to suffer half of the journey sitting in economy seats with broken tables and inoperative TV
— Pravin Tonsekar (@pat_tons) July 17, 2018
But that’s not all. In another row of business class, a mother noticed her eight-month-old daughter would not stop crying. She removed the infant’s clothes and found her covered in bites.
Thus far, Air India has only addressed the issue on social media, promising “corrective measures” and stating:
Your safety and pax comfort is paramount for #AirIndia. Inquiry was ordered on the same day, and responsibility will be fixed. We feel your pain and empathise also. We assure you that we will allow no one to jeopardise safety and comfort of pax.
Air India’s Big Problem
Cash-strapped Air India has a systemic problem: maintenance. The airline simply cannot maintain its fleet. It’s planes are falling apart inside and out. This story reveals not only bed bugs, but inoperative IFE, worn out seats, and broken tray tables. And it’s not like Air India has an ancient fleet: its 787s and 777s are not that old. I’m adding Air India to my “no fly” list until this problem is resolved.
CONCLUSION
I shudder at the thought of bed bugs. What a horrifying sight that must have been! I’d rather smell smoke any day of the week than find a bed bug on a plane.
(H/T: Live from a Lounge / image: @pat_tons on Twitter)
Air India is an airline that has been dying for the last twenty years. It’s time someone put it out of its’ misery, there’s always a better choice.
Recently I was traveling from HKG to Kowloon on the airport train. I realised that the people across the aisle were out of uniform ir India cabin crew. Thank goodness I’ve never traveled on a plane staffed by such self interested, uncaring people.
Who else is in the no fly list?
This isn’t that surprising, given all the trip reports/reviews out there. Friends avoid Air India like the plague, but IIRC, it has more to do with the delays than the maintenance (or maybe it’s both). I wonder how many poor suckers book with them because of their *A membership, only to find out that the experience is subpar, to say the least. 😮
Also, a reminder: it’s = it is, while its is possessive.
“It’s planes are falling apart inside and out… it’s 787s and 777s are not that old.”
Both of these should be “its.” When in doubt, try the sentence with “it is” to see if it makes sense for “it’s.” If it doesn’t, then use “its.” 😉
“It take “horrible flight” to a whole new level.”
That should be “takes.”
I would pay the extra fare difference to fly any other Airlines to avoid Air India. What a joke is an understatement.
This is awful. And then these people dragged their carry-on luggage/bags and their bodies to hotels — to spread the bed bugs. Truly awful.
I had to take an AI flight unfortunately last November from Katmandu to Kolcutta because it was part of a package tour last November. Same old same old. No one is ever going to buy that airline
Errr… its got “india” word on it. What else do you expect?
More racism from people like you?
Decades ago, when I was first beginning to travel internationally, Air India’s most prestigious flight was their nightly 707 from New York to London. The carrier’s magazine ads in the States promised “We work all day to make your night with us a dream”. Sad that the dream has turned into a nightmare…
It really is a shame for AI because they have the potential to be a pretty solid airline. I recently flew the 787 in J from DEL to FRA and it was a great flight. They even had proper Champagne! Unfortunately, headlines like this always seem to scream “AI.”
India is a very important market, and DEL is even a pretty decent airport for connections. If they could cover basic things like ‘maintenance’ they’d really be a competitor. As a *A fanboy, I hope to see fewer of these stories from AI, but I’m not very optimistic.