A cup of hot chocolate served by a flight attendant spilled on a 10-year-old girl, leading to second-degree burns. Now a mother claims the airline failed to help and refused to even apology. However, the airline suggests the girl caused the accident herself by playing with her tray table.
Flight Attendant Spills Hot Chocolate On Child, Airline Says Child Was Acting “Playful”
Rachna Gupta took to Twitter to tell her story, where in multiple posts she outlined her side of what occured onboard Uk25, operated by a Boeing 787-9, from Delhi (DEL) to Frankfurt (FRA):
My daughter, Tara, and I were traveling from Delhi-Frankfurt. She asked one of the Vistara hostesses for a hot chocolate. The hostess arrived with two cups of hot beverages on a tray. While opening the service tray, one of the cups spilled on my kid.
My child was sitting & watching a movie while not disturbing anyone. The beverage was extremely hot, causing a second-degree burn to my kid. Are there any protocols in place to ensure the temperature of the beverages served on board?
The entire crew lacked basic first-aid knowledge in such a situation. Neither the head girl, the air hostess, nor the captain extended an apology throughout the rest of the flight. Unacceptable!
Gupta also lamented the lack of help on the ground:
After deboarding, I had to carry my kid in an ambulance for her medical needs, at my own expense. Vistara and the crew members left us stranded in a foreign land. They also failed to assist with our left-behind luggage, leaving my friend to spend 5 hours managing it.
Having just suffered a burn on my hand, I know how horrific a burn can feel and how there is very little you can do to mitigate the pain, especially on the airplane.
Gupta lamented a lack of apology from Vistara, but now the carrier appears to be blaming the child (and her “playful” behavior) for the accident:
“An unfortunate occurrence transpired on flight UK25 from Delhi to Frankfurt on August 11, 2023. A child sustained injuries due to the spillage of hot beverage on her body. The cabin crew had served hot chocolate to the child upon the parents’ request. However, due to the child’s playful behavior during the service, the hot water accidentally spilled.”
An earlier statement from Vistara said the child’s hand hit the tray, which caused the mug to tip over:
“Our cabin crew had served hot chocolate to the child on the request of her parents, however, the hot water spilled on her since the child was playful during the service and her hand accidentally hit the tray that caused toppling of the mug.”
Vistara also insists that it provided all necessary aid onboard:
“As per our established protocols, our crew promptly administered first aid for the spillage and enlisted the assistance of an onboard paramedic, who volunteered to aid until the flight landed in Frankfurt.”
Gupta has not addressed this twist on Twitter yet except to say that the hot drink did not come at the “request of her parents” since she was traveling alone with her daughter.
CONCLUSION
We have two very different accounts of the same event. When it comes down to it, a mother claims a flight attendant was careless and Vistara claims the girl was careless. Where the truth lies is not clear at this point, but I think the takeaway from this story is that you must not let your guard down when handling a hot beverage on an airplane.
Airlines and their employees failing to help and refusing to even offer a meaningful apology is a sign of the times, unfortunately. Between the market and legal power held by the de facto government-supporter airlines and a coarser, less empathetic culture at airports and airlines than used to be the case, this kind of service failure experience is a more natural outcome than it used to be. Add in that airlines customers too are more obnoxious on average than used to be the case pre-9/11, and this all is a recipe for bad service experiences.
I am skeptical of anyone that needs to go to social media and expose the situation. I had things that didn’t go well on flights and I sent a note directly to the airline to get things solved. Anyone that goes on social media makes me suspicious of the veracity of the event.
Even though there have been some events on social media that have ended up being true? Also not everyone who send a not directly to the airline gets things solved…
Good morning Aaron. I know it is Monday so you are a bit slow. Did you read my post? I said “it makes me suspicious”. I did not say they are all false. Most are people trying to get attention and something in return.
Being in your own words that you are “skeptical of anyone” and that “anyone that on social media makes you suspicious” implies you seem to give everything the side eye. Might be better to wait and see for further facts before rushing to any judgement, given that we have no idea how many people going on social media are doing it for attention and how many actually have a legitimate claim. Unless you have some statistics about with complaints about airlines on social media the rest of us are not privy to?
What’s your reason for being slow 24/7?
Ohhh you are sour today. I know why.
You know nothing, Santastico.
In India in particular, but not only.
The idea that the “customer is always right” is gone, not that such mantra ever much existed in India — something Apple and its customers will increasingly discover some time from now.
And the idea that “guest is (next to) God” is passé in the country too.
In general, whenever a story like this is told probably 80% of the time the official story told by the employee is more credible than the passenger story.
It is completely logical that a hot drink served to a child have a lower maximum allowed temperature, Limit to 120F.
Also completely logical that a drink that is typically prepared and served at temperatures that can burn someone, will actually burn someone when spilled. Thus a parent allowing a young child to order and receive a hot beverage should be ready to bear some responsibility.
“typically prepared and served at temperatures that can burn someone”
Why is this even a thing? Why are drinks served at second degree burn temperatures in the first place… If it can burn your skin then it would also burn your mouth so you would have to wait for it to cool to drink. Why not just serve at a temp it can immediately be ingested at?
This is exactly why the hot coffee case was not frivolous (if people actually look into the details, instead of media sites)
You are correct on the last point.
If you understand when and how hot drinks came to be, this actually makes perfect sense. Hot drinks weren’t invented in an era where everyone expected a type K thermocouple and a personal injury lawyer to be on hand for every preparation.
The practice of serving a hot food or drink item at a temperature above its consumption temperature and allowing the individual to determine when to consume as it cools is commonplace and practical.
Remember the American woman who poured coffee into her snatch, then sued, because she wanted a coffee that could be poured into her hoo-hah?
I’m sorry you did that to yourself for attention.
I understand that the hot water served on planes is never at a too high temperature, precisely to avoid accidents. Personally, I have never burned my tongue taking the first sip of coffee or tea while flying.