'Thank you for my broken bag...': Hockey star Rani Rampal tells Air India after luggage mishap

In a recent setback for Air India, Indian women's national hockey team captain Rani Rampal shared a disappointing experience during her journey from Canada to India. The incident is one of the several complaints flyers have recently flouted against the airline company. 

On her return trip, after landing in Delhi, Rampal discovered that her bag had been damaged. She expressed her dissatisfaction on social media, saying, "Thank you, Air India, for this wonderful surprise. This is how your staff treat our bags."

After her post went viral, Air India responded, apologizing for the inconvenience. They wrote, "Dear Ms. Rampal, we apologize for the inconvenience caused. Please DM us your ticket details, bag tag number, and damage complaint number/DBR copy. We'll take this up."

Many users criticized Air India for similar issues, with one commenting, "Air India service has been getting progressively worse." Another user expressed, "Matter of serious concern worth strict action by AIR INDIA against staff handling bags etc. of passengers, so that such unfortunate incidents not repeated in future i.e Air India must ensure Zero Tolerance to such anti- passengers acts by their staff."

Cockroach in the inflight meal 

Air India issued an apology after a passenger on board from Delhi to New York had an unpleasant experience after finding a cockroach in the inflight meal on September 17.

The Air India spokesperson said on Saturday, that they have raised the issue with the catering service provider to investigate it further and ensured to take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in the future.

"We are aware of a social media post by a passenger regarding a foreign object in the onboard meal offered to them on AI 101 operating from DEL to JFK on 17 September 2024. Air India works with reputed caterers who supply to leading airlines globally and have stringent SOPs and multiple checks to ensure the quality of meals served to our guests," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"We are concerned about the experience of the customer in the said instance and have taken it up with our catering service provider to investigate it further. We will take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in future," the statement added.

Earlier, an Air India passenger complained of finding a cockroach in an omelette served onboard the flight from the national capital to New York. In a post on X, the passenger said a cockroach was found in the omelette served on the flight from Delhi to New York.

"My 2-year-old finished more than half of it with me when we found this. Suffered from food poisoning as a result," she said.