Several passengers have complained about bed bugs in Air India’s business class flights.
Many took to Twitter to share photos swollen bites and to reach out to the airline which said it has fumigated two aircraft after receiving complaints.
Saumya Shetty, who flew from Newark, in the US to Mumbai in India with Air India in its business class last week with her three children, said she had developed rashes all over her body after the flight.
Sharing the photo on Twitter, she alleged that despite telling the flight staff, she was offered a seat change only a short while before landing in Mumbai.
"Covered in painful bedbug bites all over my body thanks to business class of #AirIndia is this what you charge for?i only got moved to another seat in the morning when we were landing, it was disgusting! Mind you I was traveling with 3 kids," Ms Shetty said in a series of tweets tagging the media.
"Traveled business class thinking it would help with three kids. I'm covered with bed bugs bites and it's been a painful day so far," she posted.
Her husband tweeted: “My wife and three kids flew business class AI 144 from Newark to Mumbai; now they have bed bug bites all over their body; is this what we paid $10,000 for???”
Air India responded to the tweet, stating that the “safety and pax comfort is paramount for #AirIndia. Inquiry was ordered on the same day and responsibility will be fixed. We feel your pain and empathise also. We assure you that we will allow no one to jeopardise safety and comfort of pax.”
The Shettys were not the only ones to complain about bugs on the flights.
Two days earlier, the Tonsekar family from India claimed they found bugs on their seats before take-off, but ignored it then thinking it was an insect.
"We alerted the crew who sprayed a repellent. After a while, more bugs started coming out from that and other seats," said Kashmira, who was returning with her family from a holiday in the United States on July 17th.
Tonsekar’s husband, Pravin Tonsekar, tweeted Air India to express his grievance: “All our seats infested with bed bugs. Sir, [I] have heard of bed bugs on trains but shocked to experience on our maharaja and that too business.”
Air India responded to Tonsekar’s tweet to apologise for the incident: “Sharing the details with our maintenance team for corrective measures in this regard.”
Air India later released a statement, calling the incident an "isolated" one.
"Air India is deeply concerned with a few reports of bugs causing inconvenience to its esteemed passengers. The issue has been viewed seriously and every possible step is being taken to closely inspect and further strengthen our system at every level to ensure that such isolated incidents of passenger discomfiture do not affect our consistent performance," the airline said in a statement.
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