Saturday, March 30, 2024

I was flying with my younger brother on a domestic flight. It was an Indigo flight. The flight attendant served us our pre-booked meal, which was chicken cucumber sandwich. I took two bites from my sandwich, and then I saw the head of a dead lizard inside my sandwich. I started to feel unwell and disgusted. I called the flight attendant and informed her that I have found a foreign object in my sandwich. She inspected the sandwich and apologized to me. She then asked me if I want an alternative meal; to which I denied because I was very anxious. I asked her for the sandwich that I will keep to myself and once the flight lands, I will hand it over to the airport authorities for proper inspection. She told me that she can't give me the sandwich as it's the airline policy to keep it, so their catering team will inspect it. I agreed, as I didn't know much about that policy. But I asked her for the sandwich so that I could make a video of it as a proof. She agreed and gave me the sandwich, I made a proper video of the food along with the view of the flight. I also took out the head of the dead lizard on a tissue and captured it in the video closely. It is clearly visible that it is the head of a dead lizard. After this, I handed over the sandwich to the flight attendant. Now she saw that I found something in my food, but it didn't stop her from serving the same food to other passengers. She went on with her business.

The flight landed after a while. As I was exiting the airplane. I asked one of the flight attendants about the object I found in my food, to which she said smilingly, "Oh, that! That was a piece of a chicken, sir." I told her it was definitely not a chicken piece. But I realized that she was not going to agree, I dropped it and asked her if I can post the video I made of the sandwich. She said, "it's your video, you can do whatever you want with it."

Later that evening: I got a call from Taran (Customer Experience). He also confirmed (lied) that it was indeed a piece of a chicken. After his call I got a call from Pratik Arjun Sen (Director – Customer Experience and Training). He also lied to me the same thing. I asked him if you have analyzed it, may I see the report? He said that he cannot give me the report as it is highly confidential. But after an hour he called me once again and told me that he will give me the report under one condition that I cannot share it with anyone as it is highly confidential. Anyways, I agreed. He told me that he will send me the report on Monday.

Monday, April 1, 2024

It was past 5pm and I am still yet to receive the report. I called him. He didn't pick up. I texted him about the report. At 6:40pm, I got an email from Indigo with the subject "Chicken Sandwich" and had a PDF attached. I opened the PDF and it was titled "INVESTIGATION REPORT" from Oberoi Flight Services. Here is what the report said:

We have investigated the reported incident. The submitted sample was thoroughly examined in our in- house laboratory in the presence of Senior Chef and Indigo’s representative and our observations/ findings are as below-

1. The piece of concern was found to be 2cm long.

1. The weight of the alleged piece of concern was found to be 1gm.

2. The sample was thoroughly examined and checked under magnifying glass and confirmed to be a piece of chicken which is one of the main ingredient of the dish and misinterpreted as a FOB.

In addition to all above, the sample was washed under running water for final check and confirmation after removal of debris over it and it is confirmed to be a piece of chicken. All related pictures and videos have been attached.

I checked the properties of the PDF. It was made using Microsoft Word.

I was not satisfied with the funny report. I responded back to the email asking for the sandwich so that I can have an independent analysis. Never got a response. I called him the next day and asked for the same thing. He said he cannot give me that due to some policies.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

I sent an email to Isha Gandhi (Nodal Officer) and Amrita Gill (Appellate Authority) regarding this whole incident. I got a call from Isha Gandhi at 7:47pm in the evening. She also confirmed me that it was a piece of a chicken as they have done lab test of the object. I asked for the object for independent investigation to which she denied saying that they cannot give me the sample but I can show the report to anybody. I was adamant for the object for independent analysis. She told me that the object is at the vendor's right now that she will ask the vendor and let me know by tomorrow if I can have it or not.

Thursday, April 4, 2024

At 4:50pm, I got a call from Isha Gandhi. The Nodal Head of Catering Unit, Deepak Aggarwal was also on the call. Same thing he said that it was a piece of a chicken that they have investigated it. Now during the call I mentioned another incident in the past that happened with an Indigo passenger where she found a live worm in her veg sandwich. Here is the link to that. Indigo never confirmed that but Deepak Aggarwal said about that incident "I am not denying that. It happened one time. I take complete responsibility of that scene." Isha interrupted in between that "it was never established."

Later during the call, Isha said that they cannot give me the sandwich for independent investigation because they have discarded the object in question because of their 48 hours hazard rule.

After the call. I sent an email to her asking for the written proof of the hazard rule with justification and justification for report confidentiality. I never got a reply.

I emailed and called her multiple times but she never answered or replied back to me.

Moving Forward:

I have call recordings of all the calls. I have all the emails I received and sent. I have the crystal clear video recording. First I am going to send this entire documented incident to 3 news channels in India. I have already contacted them (My father was a news reporter, so I know people). I didn't do it earlier because of the elections. I wanted the entire nation to know about it. Now is the right time. After this, I will send them a legal notice. I will also start a public petition to terminate IndiGo's food license.

Do you have any advice for me?