An Air India passenger has criticised the airline's staff for allegedly losing one of her kittens at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport's Terminal 3 due to their "negligence". Sony S Somar, a graphic designer, took to Twitter to share her friend's ordeal while travelling with the airline.
On April 25, Mr Somar tweeted, "My friend's pet is missing due to negligence by @airindiain staff. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy and your negligence is inexcusable. You must take responsibility for your actions and make things right immediately. @RNTata2000 ." He also shared a few screenshots of an email sent to the airline by his friend, Jangneichong Karong.
My friend's pet is missing due to negligence by @airindiain staff. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy and your negligence is inexcusable. You must take responsibility for your actions and make things right immediately. @RNTata2000
A few screenshots explaining what happened. pic.twitter.com/8b4lGenjRR
Ms Karong was travelling from Delhi to Imphal on April 24 with two pet cats. She arrived at the airport at 6.30 am for the 9.55 am flight, according to her email. However, at the check-in counter, the staff informed her that if she wanted to bring the kittens into the cabin, she would have to reschedule her flight or upgrade to business class.
"Unfortunately as the flight reschedule option was not available, I agreed to move to business class as I was not comfortable to let my kittens travel through cargo but they said I'll have to wait till the morning staff arrives for any procedures. This led to me waiting till 7.30 am for the staff to arrive which was futile again because they informed me that business class is not possible and the only option is cargo. With heaviness in my heart, knowing that my kittens will atleast have each other I agreed to the same and went ahead with the procedures," she stated in the email.
Screenshot of emails sent to @airindiainpic.twitter.com/OBnrBg1E7e
— Sony S. Somar (@sonyssomar) April 25, 2023Ms Karong added that she correctly locked the cage in the presence of airline personnel, but to her total surprise, one of the kittens escaped and ran away. She added that with only seven minutes to board, she had to give permission to fly with only one of her pets.
"This was heartbreaking and I'm still in a complete mental shock that one of my kittens went missing. I'm sure your staff members were not careful with them, because the latch felt loose when I received it upon arrival. Really not sure who played with it resulting in me losing one of my pet," she continued in the email to the airline.
She also added that she had to face "physical and mental hassle" due to incapabilities of the staff members. "Even had one of my friends travel to the airport to pick them up, if I wasn't allowed to travel with them. This is really not done. Please help me get my pet back or I'll have to take necessary action against your airline," she said.
Air India responded to the tweet and said, "Dear Sir, we emphathize with you and truly regret to note this incident. Our team will be in touch with your friend to address this on priority." They also asked the user to share the ticket details for further action.
AdvertisementIn another tweet, Ms Karong said that the airline apologised but that does not help her case now. "I got a call to extend their apologies, but it's not the apologies that I need now, but my kitten to be reunited with her brother. Makes me question how actively they are searching. Do u have cctv at all @airindia A kitten not train med to fast will not stay hungry for 3 days."
