UN official slams Air India for cockroaches, broken seats on New York-Delhi flight; airline replies

Last week, a United Nations diplomat, who was traveling on a flight from New York to New Delhi, criticised Air India for its worst service. He took to Twitter to divulge details about the presence of cockroaches and the absence of "entertainment/call buttons/reading lights" on the flight.

"As a UN diplomat, I've flown worldwide, but Air India 102 JFK to Delhi was my worst flight experience: broken seats, no entertainment/call buttons/reading lights, and cockroaches. Poison spray. Disregard for customer care," the diplomat wrote on Twitter.

On Monday, the official further enquired how Air India flights from New York have cockroaches and no onboard safety equipment.

"Any thoughts and comments on how Air India flights from NY are infested with cockroaches and have non-operational standard Onboard safety equipment?," the diplomat wrote.

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In order to do damage control, Air India's Twitter account replied to the diplomat by apologising for the inconvenience caused due to it.

In 2019, one of the passengers found a cockroach in the food served aboard a Bhopal-Mumbai flight. Air India apologised for it and said the airline has initiated "corrective action internally".

With the increase in accidents of unruly behaviour by passengers on flights, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson recently expressed concern and urged that the concerted industry effort can only contain the problem.

“It is unfortunate that the [passenger] behaviour is not always what one would expect in a public environment. As an industry, we need to step forward and say there’s what is acceptable and what’s not acceptable,” Wilson told Business Today.

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