Air India was hit with a hefty government fine after it served a dish containing meat to unsuspecting vegetarians.
Chandra Mohan Pathak and his wife were flying from Chicago to New Delhi on India in late 2016. They had pre-ordered vegetarian meals. But when they bit into their dinners after takeoff, they tasted meat. Horrified, Pathak asked to file a formal complaint onboard, but was denied. He was particularly irate that labeling for vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals were not distinguishable. Back at home, he filed a complaint with a local government consumer protection agency.
Originally, a local Chandigarh State consumer forum had asked Air India to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 (~$140) plus Rs 7,000 (~$99) for legal fees. But the Punjab Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission quadrupled the fine to Rs 40,000 and left the Rs 7,000 (totaling ~$563) to cover legal expenses for the Pathaks. The Commission condemned Air India for its poor service and offending the religious observations of the passengers.
Air India has been given 30 days to pay the fine and was instructed to deposit the money directly into the passenger’s bank account.
CONCLUSION
I know it is sometimes difficult to tell what contains meat and what does not in an Indian dish, but wouldn’t you carefully examine, including smelling, a dish if your religion proscribed meat dishes? I’m not blaming the passengers in this case, but have never understood why some people with strict dietary requirements seem so reliant upon airlines, especially on a 14-hour flight from Chicago to New Delhi!
image: Air India
No, you wouldn’t sniff the meal; rather you would rely on the provider. There are more than 500 million vegetarians in India, so regulations are very strict. It was incumbent on Air India to have a system to get it right, regardless of the point of origin. This was a major transgression and they should have been fined far more, IMO.
Ya right….blame the customer for being vegetarian and not smelling their food. It’s their obligation to provide the meal of choice pre-ordered.
If it was me, I would have claimed much more. And this was Air India for God’s sake, when other international airlines are considerate why cannot they be..afterall they originate in India.
Forget about vegetarian meal, how about you requested diabetic meal and you got regular meal? You can’t sniff to find out about it. The author has taken this matter lightly. It’s a grave matter. Stop looking everything from western perspectives.
Veg and non veg meals are labelled to distinguish and the label sits bang on the aluminium foil covering the meal.
The author does not understand that there are people in India, who have never seen or smelt meat.
“I know it is sometimes difficult to tell what contains meat and what does not in an Indian dish, but wouldn’t you carefully examine, including smelling, a dish if your religion proscribed meat dishes? I’m not blaming the passengers in this case, but have never understood why some people with strict dietary requirements seem so reliant upon airlines, especially on a 14-hour flight from Chicago to New Delhi!”
Ordinarily I’d agree with that, but the reality is Indians expect meals to be labeled correctly as veg/non veg on AI. I have plenty of family members that prefer AI for exactly that reason, because they know they can get a proper meal. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation, either, since the majority of the staff and cabin crew are Indian and understand the seriousness of dietary restrictions, even if they aren’t vegetarians themselves. Think about it this way – if another Hindu family decided to join us on a long road trip, and I handed them a bowl of food marked “veg”, they wouldn’t think twice about inspecting what was in it.
I suspect what happened here was a simple mistake in labeling, which spiraled out of control because of AI’s notoriously indifferent service culture. Though frankly, it’s not like Rs. 40,000 is going to do anything to change that…
It’s really not a harsh fine.
Well actually you are blaming the consumers here.
Few things to consider:
It is hard to smell meat in many Indian dishes.
They were Indian passengers traveling to India on air India. At the very least cultural courtesy is expected.
India has very strict laws on the labeling of foods to indicate whether they are vegetarian or noon vegetarian. Even restaurants are expected to indicate vegetarian options with green and not vegetarian options with brown. Beyond cultural courtesy this might end up a legal issue. 40k is peanuts in terms of a fine.
They should ask to make sure, but why preorder if they don’t have labeling for vegetarian meals.
Most people who are strict vegetarians consider smelling or inhaling restricted food as non compliance to their lifestyle. Yeah, so they dont smell,its a religious thing. It may be similar to you if like you eat food which is not fresh and you later get digesting problems.Maybe you could have smelled but again its the responsibility of the one selling you the food to give it clean.
It doesn’t matter that the carrier is AI. When the caterer labels a meal as vegetarian, passengers can reasonably expect that there won’t be any meat in the meal.
It also wouldn’t matter if the meal was requested because of allergies or religious reasons. When a meal is labeled ‘vegetarian,’ or ‘gluten free,’ one can expect that it is meatless or does not have gluten in it.
It would be different if no special meal request was made and they were given a standard meal offered to all the passengers in the cabin. In that case, yes, you would sift through the food and determine as best you can whether you can eat the meal based upon what you can see and/or what the menu says and what the flight attendants have told you are in the meal.
In the case of nut allergies, some airlines make it clear that they cannot guarantee that the aircraft will be a nut free environment. If they also cannot guarantee that their special meals have been produced in an environment fee of nuts, then they should make that clear to people with allergies as well.
I thought indians are vegetarians then why your country is contrdicting and serving non veg.Air ondia should explicitly allow only vegetarians.you cant ban beef and then serve it on a plane no no no double standard indians
So you go into a restaurant and order frog legs and are served chicken instead, do you need to sniff and taste before you call the waiter to send it back? If I pre-order a meal on a flight, I shouldn’t be obligated to “check” whether I’ve been served said meal.
“Wouldn’t you carefully examine?”
No you wouldn’t. Not unless you expected someone to f*** with you Seinfeld-style! LOL
Let’s kill your pet or a dead body and eat.. anyway a meat is a meat.. later tell you about it.. will you feel happy? Let’s respect food sentiments.
Being a Professional Chef.I think the airlines is 100% at fault. Firstly they should have distinct labels. Secondly the author of this piece doesn’t realise people along with preferred meals also have dietary restrictions including religious restrictions.
Lactose free Gluten free celiac low sugar low sodium Halal No Beef Nut Free are a few examples we follow very strictly.
You are playing with people’s lives here Air India
“I’m not blaming the passengers in this case..” but goes on to blame the passenger in a disingenuous way. This dude is ridiculous.
It is not their fault. I just wouldn’t trust airlines to serve me food, especially if my religion mandated a strict diet.
Respectfully, you’re still missing the point. This isn’t any airline; it’s Air India. An airline a lot of Indians choose AI exactly because they’re up to speed on regional dietary restrictions – because probably a third to half of their passengers on any given flight are vegetarians. NOBODY is going to pack their own food or second guess whether the green “veg” sticker is right on AI, or any other Indian airline. Nor do I see why it’s unreasonable for them to depend on them to get it right.
I don’t disagree with your sentiment. I just wouldn’t trust Air India for anything.
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between veg and non veg in Indian dishes . Once in a restaurant I asked for veg meal but they provided a dry fish gravy with it . My bad it was not noticable until I put it in my mouth . & When you order something from a reputed service provider you don’t really suspect suspect it to be worse . Also Sniffing food is disrespectful towards Goddess Laxmi accordingly Hindu culture . This is to your conclusion . If you’ve paid for something it’s your right to get it without any hassle so don’t judge
How could you blame ai if a meal was wrongly labelled. Do you expect the crew to scrutinise physically every box before serving
The story indicated the food had no labelling, not vegetarian labeling.
Every single time wrong conclusion..I wonder if its deliberate … as a click bait for comments(engagement) or if it shows real you…either ways sad!!
If the author is that experienced a flyer, you’d think he’d know that with a few exceptions, there’s no way to know what airline food is. I once asked a cabin attendant, when my plate had a pile of brown mush on it. She had no idea, either.
Which is why it is helpful to bring your own food if you have strict dietary requirements. Don’t trust the airlines.
You did not understand because you have not understood the concept of vegetarianism from Indian viewpoint. An Indian avoids meat not just because it supports killing animals for our pleasure. It’s also because touching/ eating/ sniffing meat is barbaric because meat is filth, literally for him. Asking a vegetarian to snuff meat is offensive. I don’t mean to offend meat eaters but am just stating the facts.
The meat is filth bit is only seen in a set of religious nut jobs. It has more to do with feeling superior to others than anything else.
I live in a complex with 50% Jain’s. They will all fart on about religion till it’s a Friday evening and they will be seen in the local bar eating chicken with their drinks. The same people will try to make my take a seperate lift when I carry my weeks groceries home.
So what other options are there than relying on Aitlines for a 14 hour flight + 3 hours of pre flight checkin + 3 hours of post flight immigration and baggage claim (20+ hours), that’s almost a day.
1. Prepare and carry and eat spoiled food and get food poisoning. No airline will allow to put passengers food in their coller and reheat, atleast not for economy.
2. Ask Airline to use inflight kitchen, as if it is possible
3. Munch on snacks and have upset stomach.
You mentioned you fly regularly, may be mostly business over short distances.
Also you don’t seem to know how to write. The couple were not flying ‘On India’.
Wow, so it seems you now have to sniff a meal on flight. Firstly, I am sure you are aware that in flight the taste buds and smell senses are not same as on ground due to air pressure. When someone labels the item as vegetarian, then it is clearly assuned it is. I don’t think any body would dissect the item first and then taste and say “oh its non veg” not switch my meal. Its the same way as if you would serve non veg a veg meal, I am sure they would be angry. Same goes other way around. Clealy airline fault not the passenger.
$563 is a “harsh fine” for a large airline? Really?
Amusing picture: seats are empty, but meal service is on!
Before coming to this kind on conclusion first you better understand India & Indian dishes, just by sniffing once it’s not always easy to tell what exactly it is. We have hundreds of spices & thousands of combination.
“I know it is sometimes difficult to tell what contains meat and what does not in an Indian dish, but wouldn’t you carefully examine, including smelling, a dish if your religion proscribed meat dishes?”
Wow. Could you be anymore tone deaf?
Firstly, it’s incumbent on the provider to provide the correct product that was paid for. Especially, when you have these options in your list because you are aware of the restrictions that your customers have. Even if the customer was able to figure out the difference before eating, I would consider the airline to still be liable for a fine.
Secondly, do you know how easy it is to mistake a meat dish for a vegetable dish, especially in Indian Cuisine? Clearly, you have no clue.
What a dumb “CONCLUSION”
I think you would be super careful at first with any airline or restaurant but once you’d been using the airline and developed a trust with them it’s natural to eat your guard down. Any reasonable person would not be as careful with a company they had experience with and trusted.
Also consider allergies. You wouldn’t expect someone to never eat out when you have a peanut allergy without having someone taste all your food before hand. It’s just not reasonable.
Matthew, you poor, poor man. My heart goes out to you. To have to live with the affliction of such a logic-crippled, bass-ackwards brain that actually formulates incredulous thoughts such as “$500 is a hefty fine for an airline” and “bringing TWENTY HOURS WORTH OF MEALS onto a flight is a viable option for an airline passenger”.
Un.be.lie.va.ble. On what planet are these the thoughts an “experienced” traveller?
I’m vegan and gluten intolerant. I bring my own back up if the food served on the flight is questionable. Seriously though, Air India of all airlines, you would expect to adhere to serving vegetarian meals due to the enormity of the population that eats vegetarian. No? The fine was pretty minimal. Pay it out and move on.
Stupid article. For many reasons.
Thanks for reading!
How is the fine harsh Matthew?
if you are that dietary OBSERVANT then bring your own food!!! to be sure it is not contaminated with the horrid MEAT!!!
Lol… Why would I smell the meal before eating. I am paying airlines and it’s their responsibility to provide me with proper food. Who smells good before eating? Strange… Dogs do that… :d
Article says Harsh Fine Lol! $500 fine for an Airline is equivalent to nothing
But Air India is broke.
47,000 rupees should be nothing to an airline, but consider that Air India can’t even pay for fuel. They’ve been stiffing vendors for over a year. Air India should be put out of its misery and Vistara should take its place. Tata (along with Singapore Airlines) would be back to running the flag carrier.
Some people comments are idiotic…being a vegetarian it’s not by religion… It’s one’s life style…saw some one saying non veg should be banked in AI…seems with little knowledge n commenting. If we pre ordered the food should be delivered as per request. Tks
Some comments are idiotic…being a vegetarian it’s not by religion… It’s one’s life style…saw some one saying non veg should be banked in AI…seems with little knowledge n commenting. If we pre ordered the food should be delivered as per request. Tks
Wow. The Hindu right wing troll army is out in force.