Cockroach on food plate at Air India VIP lounge, airline says sorry

Pic Courtesy: Twitter/Harinder Baweja

New Delhi: An Air India passenger did not have the most pleasurable experience while eating her food at the VIP lounge of Air India at Delhi airport. The passenger, journalist Harinder Baweja, found a cockroach on her food plate at the lounge.

She took to Twitter to complain about the same, forcing the airline to tender an apology.

"Dear @airindiain cockroaches on food plates at your Delhi Lounge for business and first class passengers. Disgusting," Harinder Baweja, a journalist by profession, tweeted along with a picture of a roach on her plate.

Dear @airindiain cockroaches on food plates at your Delhi Lounge for biz and first class passengers. Disgusting pic.twitter.com/LEy9GtrgTY — Harinder Baweja (@shammybaweja) December 20, 2017

The airline apologised for the incident on the micro blogging site and said the catering services provider had been asked to take corrective measures.

"We are sorry to hear this, Ms Harinder...We have alerted the agency managing lounge at T3 (Terminal 3). Necessary corrective measures are being taken immediately. We deeply apologise for this incident," it responded in a series of tweets.

We are sorry to hear this, Ms. Harinder. Sharing your feedback with our Airport team to get it checked. — Air India (@airindiain) December 20, 2017

Several others reacted to the happening on Twitter:

Hahaha, every living has a right to live biz/1st class life?

Let them enjoy till privatization is not done. — اعجاز احمد (@imaejaz) December 20, 2017

They started serving non veg again? — Arun Joseph (@arunjoseph) December 20, 2017

Are you suggesting that cockroaches are okay for economy class passengers? :p — Ajai Shukla (@ajaishukla) December 20, 2017

An airline source said that Air India subsidiary Hotel Corporation of India, which manages Centaur group of hotels, provides catering services at its lounge.

This comes almost a year after a passenger complained about a cockroach he spotted in his meal on an Air India flight to Chicago. The passenger had shared a pic of the same on Twitter.

.@airindiain now serves cockroach for vegetarian meals on AI127 #sicktomystomach #traumatized #cockroachinfood pic.twitter.com/SX1DR2Cufy — Rahul Raghuvanshi (@BostonNewsHound) November 16, 2016

Air India had offered an apology over the incident and had issued a notice to the caterer concerned. The airline had tweeted, “We have zero tolerance policy in this respect. Obligatory action is taking place.

There have been several instances of insects being found in food in aircraft.

(With agency inputs)