Passenger wins Rs 35,000 in compensation after 23 year long legal battle against Air India

An Air India traveller won a case against the carrier after a long legal battle of 23 years for contaminated food served during his travel from Colombo to Chennai. The compensation? Rs 35,000.

The incident was from July 26, 2002, and the verdict was passed by Madras High Court on October 10, 2025.

Here’s what happened: Passenger P Sundarapariporanam, during Air India flight IC 574, discovered that the food served to him in a sealed packet by the airline had strands of hair, as mentioned in a report in The Economic Times. The report stated that the sight of the hair in his food made him nauseous.

The passenger, to make matters worse, could not file a complaint either because there were no complaint boxes or forms available. The flight staff reportedly did not listen to him either. He fell ill and finally filed a complaint with the Deputy General Manager (Commercial) once he landed.

The report added that Air India, in a letter dated July 12, 2002, expressed regret over the incident and said they were investigating the matter. A week later, on July 19, however, Sundarapariporanam filed a legal notice through his lawyer, and detailed that he suffered stomach pain and experienced vomiting due to the incident. He sought compensation of Rs 11 lakh.

Air India acknowledged that the passenger was a frequent flyer with them and such an incident had never occurred before. It also argued against the justification of Rs 11 lakh as compensation. The carrier pointed out that it had outsourced the catering to Ambassador Pallava, a Five Star Hotel in Chennai. It said that since Sundarapariporanam did not involve the caterers in the claim, he is not entitled to one. It also argued that it could have been very well Sundarapariporanam’s own hair he spotted in the meal.

Sundarapariporanam had reportedly not returned the food tray back to the staff, and also did not request any help or medical attention, and hence the defendants could not be held responsible. It added that the apology it wrote to the passenger was mere courtesy and not an admission of guilt.

The case thereafter went on trial, and the trial court ordered Air India to pay the complainant Rs 1 lakh. The carrier filed an appeal against the order. Finally on October 10, Sundarapariporanam won the case in the Madras High Court.

The court said in none of the statements there have been any evidence of Air India denying the incident anywhere. It agreed that there was negligence and the burden of proof was on the carrier to show that they had taken proper care in the performance of its duty.

It also pointed out that the passenger was not privy to Air India’s contract with the caterer, and that his own contract was only with the carrier.

The court however set aside the Rs 1 lakh penalty seeing as how Sundarapariporanam did not provide any evidence to establish loss or injury, the report added. It however, ordered the carrier to pay the cost of the suit, including the court fee and expenses to the tune of Rs 15,000 and the counsel’s fee of Rs 20,000, amounting to a total of Rs 35,000 within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the judgment.