Air India crew serves Vegetarian passenger non-vegetarian meal by mistake, airline takes action

On March 25, two members of Air India's cabin crew were grounded after serving a non-vegetarian meal to a vegetarian passenger on a Tokyo-Delhi flight.

The passenger had pre-booked a vegetarian meal, according to government officials.

The passenger, who had reserved a Jain veg meal, is seen on video speaking with two airline crew members. The crew explained that they accidentally served him a non-vegetarian meal and assured the passenger that it was not done on purpose.

The passenger recorded the encounter and shared it on social media.

Although the traveller agreed with their reasoning, he pointed out that the crew members had treated the situation casually and that the meal had not been thoroughly checked before serving.

The passenger complained to the crew members after realising he had received the wrong meal, according to officials.

"You did not care about my religious feelings and gave me non-veg despite me being a Jain and a vegetarian," the passenger told the crew members.

"An issue of a non-veg meal alleged to have been served to a passenger onboard AI307 (Tokyo Narita-Delhi) of March 25 was raised on a social media platform. The crew concerned were immediately barred from flying duties and an inquiry has been initiated. AI has zero tolerance towards any kind of lapse in service, even if it is inadvertent," an Air India spokersperson said.

According to the airline, 11 special meals were served to the 80 passengers, as requested at the time of booking. Special meals are kept in separate ovens according to Air India's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to avoid cross-contamination.

The airline went on to say that the caterer labels the meals, and that they cannot be opened and checked before serving because that would be tampering with pre-packaged meals.