Bed bug bites: Air India offers ‘waiver’ rather than ‘refund’ to the tourist

A woman’s tweet about bed bug bites and the pain she received while flying business class on an Air India aircraft caused quite a stir on the Internet. Saumya Shetty posted a photo of reddened bumps on her hands caused by bed insect bites to the microblogging site.

Shetty claimed that she was flying from Newark, New Jersey to Mumbai with her three children on July 18 and was denied a seat change until “thirty minutes before landing” the next day after appealing twice.

Shetty, who is located in Manhattan, followed up on July 20 with a tweet saying that Air India had yet to contact her about the inconvenience she had experienced. “What an #airindia #businessclass would do to you? AI still has to get in touch with me in spite of my repeated attempts to get in touch with them,” she added.

What an #airindia #businessclass would do to you? AI still has to get in touch with me inspite if my repeated attempts to get in touch with them. @airindiain @NewYorkTimes11 @cnni pic.twitter.com/tDHfmhX0Vx

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— Saumya Shetty (@saumshetty) July 20, 2018

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. @timesofindia @mid_day

— Saumya Shetty (@saumshetty) July 19, 2018

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. @airindiain Inspite on complaining I had to sleep in the same seat and only got moved the next day when we werelanding. @timesofindia @indianexpreas

— Saumya Shetty (@saumshetty) July 19, 2018

Talking to the media, the 36-year-old said that she was met with a “callous attitude” every time she reached out on their helpline numbers.

She said, “I called their helpline yesterday and asked for a refund of my tickets. I was given an email ID to write a complaint, but the mail bounced.”

She was instructed to travel to a local carrier’s office to pursue her complaint.

According to her, “The lady executive (at Nariman Point.) told me I have been mailing on the wrong email IDs. I asked whose fault was it, in that case.”

“The woman said I’d be given a waiver, that is, I’d not be charged the penalty fee for canceling tickets. When I said I wanted a refund of the tickets, she countered me by saying that I still traveled on those tickets,” she added.

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