NRI engineer nails airline

Representative photo

"First they dished out a rusted nail in my food then they tried to convince me to settle the issue for Rs 3,000. Does a human life cost Rs 3,000 according to a five-star airline?" asked Yathish Kumar Attavar, who was travelling by Kingfisher from Dubai to Bangalore and to Mangalore with his family, on March 8.

Yathish, 46, who has been working as an engineer in Dubai for last 18 years, was travelling with his wife Lalitha and daughter Thania (seat no. 3A, 3B and 3C respectively) by flight no IT046, when he had to face this mid-air horror.

Yathish alleges the food he was served had rusted nail inside it, which even broke a piece of his tooth. "I opted for non vegetarian food in which they served pulao as well. As I started eating the pulao with chicken curry suddenly a rusted nail came into my mouth which even broke a piece of my tooth and I was in terrible pain," he said

"There was a loud noise and chief steward and hostess Aditi and Neha were close to me and tried to take away the plate from my hand. I insisted that they take my complaint first. They checked the rusted nail in the dish served to me and promised me that the same will be referred to the ground staff for further investigation and they will report the conclusions to me," the Dubai-based engineer told MiD DAY.

"I was told that one of the senior staff members would contact me with the details provided but none of them have contacted me till date," said Yathish.
When Yathish got no reply from the airline, he mailed Kingfisher officials and the Dubai National Air Transport Association on his return to the emirates.

MiD DAY contacted Kingfisher airlines, seeking a response on the matter, but the query went unanswered.u00a0

The Other Side

MiD DAY contacted Kingfisher airlines, seeking a response on the matter, but the query went unanswered. Finally, a spokesperson for the airline said there would be no official comment over the issue.

Meanwhile, Yathish received a call from one of the airline executives on May 4, offering a compensation of Rs 3000 to resolve the issue.

"No one had called me initially, but as the media contacted the airline, they called me up. The executive, who introduced herself as Shilpa, said that the airline had decided to pay me Rs 3,000 as compensation. Is that the value of a life? What if it was my daughter instead of me?" asked Yathish.

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