Upon inspecting it, the passenger realised it was a metal blade.
An Air India passenger claimed he found a metal blade inside his in-flight meal from Bengaluru to San Francisco. Mathures Paul, a journalist, took to social media to share his ordeal aboard Air India AI 175 flight last week.
In his post, Mr Paul said that he was enjoying his in-flight meal of roasted sweet potato and fig chaat when he felt a piece of metal in his mouth. Upon inspecting it, he realised it was a metal blade
"Air India food can cut like a knife. Hiding in its roasted sweet potato and fig chaat was a metal piece that looked like a blade. I got a feel of it only after chewing the grub for a few seconds. Thankfully, no harm was done. Of course, the blame squarely lies with Air India's catering service but the incident doesn't help the image I have of Air India," he said, sharing an image of the bowl showing the metal blade next to the food.
Mr Paul highlighted the serious consequences of the error wondering what would have happened if the meal was served to a child. "What if the metal piece was in the food served to a child? First picture shows the metal piece that I spat out and the second picture shows the meal before it put metal into my life," he added.
In response to the incident, Air India contacted the passenger and offered a one-way business class ticket valid redeemable on any Air India flight for up to one year. However, Mr Paul reportedly declined the offer, terming the gesture as a 'bribe'.
In its response, the airline claimed that the blade was part of a vegetable chopping machine used by its catering vendor. "Air India confirms that a foreign object was found in the meal of a guest aboard one of our flights. After investigation, it has been identified as coming from the vegetable processing machine used at the facilities of our catering partner," Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Air India told news agency ANI.
Responding to Mr Paul's post on X, Air India said, "Dear Mr. Paul, we are sorry to know about this. This does not represent the level of service we aim to provide to our passengers. Please DM us your booking details along with your seat number. We'll ensure this matter is promptly reviewed and addressed."