A business-class passenger on a Tata Group-owned Air India flight from New Delhi to Newark has accused the airline of serving “uncooked” food and providing dirty, worn-out seats, describing the experience as “nothing short of a nightmare.”

“Bad food, worn out seat, dirty seat cover, non-working TV (all) for ₹5 lakh (round trip), Damaged my luggage,” passenger Vineeth K said in a post on the microblogging platform ‘X’ on June 15.

He mentioned that despite being able to get cheaper fares with Gulf carrier Etihad, he chose Air India because it offers a non-stop service to the US.

Alleging a 25-minute delay before takeoff, Vineeth recounted, “After settling in for 30 mins post takeoff at 3:30 AM, I realized my seat didn’t recline to a flat bed due to a malfunction.” He mentioned moving to Air India from Emirates for direct flights to NY, Chicago, and London, his frequent destinations.

Vineeth claimed he requested a seat change and was relocated. “After waking up hours later, I received uncooked food (unusual for AI) and stale fruits (returned by everyone onboard),” he stated.

He further noted, “The TV/Screen never functioned, displaying a ‘Not Found’ error. To top it off, they also damaged my luggage.” Air India has yet to respond to the matter.