Air India refunds first-class ticket to founder of Indian and American carrier as ‘brutal’ cabin video goes viral on Instagram

Tata-owned Air India has refunded the full amount to Anip Patel, founder of Chicago-based venture capital firm CaPatel Investments, after his video of the first-class cabin on a flight from Chicago to Delhi went viral on Instagram.

According to Patel’s comment under his Instagram post, the brand refunded him the full amount of his flight ticket, even though he did not file a formal complaint.

“I didn’t file any complaint with @airindia but through social media they saw the video – they called me today and refunded the entire flight amount,” Patel said on September 18, adding a comment to the post. “They did it right and it’s worth noting,” the executive said after the airline took action over the traveller’s unpleasant experience.

What was this movie about?

Anip Patel posted a video on his Instagram account on Wednesday showing how his recent trip from Chicago to Delhi was affected by the “worst first class,” the CEO wrote in a post on his MondayswithMohan account.

“I recently took a 15-hour non-stop flight from Chicago to Delhi and it was not a pleasant experience. I had heard negative things about Air India before but was hoping that the recent changes under new management would improve the experience – unfortunately, that did not happen,” Patel said in an Instagram post.

Since its release, the video has been viewed 6.9 million times by platform users, liked by 97.1 thousand people and commented on by 8,749 people.

Patel’s post highlighted the situation of the first-class cabin of an Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi. According to his post, the cost of a one-way first-class ticket was $6,300 per person.

“Everything was torn, damaged, or covered in mold. I understand it was wear and tear, but this was next level,” Patel said in the post.

Patel also claimed that the first-class menu was missing 30 percent of its items. According to the post, only one item from each menu was available on the plane, and four people were traveling in first class that day.

“It was basically first come, first served,” Patel said.

Patel also noticed that the plane’s entertainment systems were not working, despite cabin crew trying to get them working by resetting them four to five times, to no avail. Objects in the cabin were stuck to the walls, and the flight did not have a Wi-Fi system, according to the executive.