On July 17, passenger Pravin Tonsekar uploaded pictures of bed-bug infested seats that he and his family members sat on for their 17-hour flight to Mumbai, India, from Newark.
"Just arrived from New York on Air India 144 business class with family. All our seats infested with bed bugs," Tonsekar tweeted Tuesday.
— Pravin Tonsekar (@pat_tons) July 17, 2018
"We are sorry to hear this, Mr. Pravin," Air India responded to Tonsekar's tweet later that day.
"Sharing the details with our maintenance team for corrective measures in this regard," Air India added.
Another passenger, who also took an Air India flight out of Newark Wednesday afternoon, also complained about him and his family members being bitten by bed bugs.
— Rohan (@roscrow) July 19, 2018
"Your safety is paramount for #AirIndia. Inquiry was ordered on the same day, and responsibility will be fixed. We feel your pain and empathise also. We assure you that we will allow no one to jeopardise safety," Air India responded to the tweet July 20th.
On Thursday, an eight-month year old was also covered by bed bug bites on the same Newark-Mumbai route on an Air India flight, Times of India reported Friday.
According to a source who was on the flight and spoke to Air India July 20th, "as the eight-month-old infant had been crying, the distressed mother removed the child's clothes and found numerous bite marks all over."
"Bed bugs were seen crawling even on the white tablecloth while it was being cleared," the source added.
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the regional transportation infrastructure within the area, has not received any reports about bed bugs at Newark Airport, NJ.com reported July 20th.
Last August, an Air India Delhi-San Francisco flight was fumigated after a rat was spotted on board. The flight was delayed nine-hours due to the ordeal, India Today reported at the time.
