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

An Air India passenger has won a case against the carrier after a 23-year long legal battle over contaminated food he was served while traveling from Colombo to Chennai. Compensation? 35,000 rupees.

The incident occurred on July 26, 2002, and the Madras High Court delivered the judgment on October 10, 2025.

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

To make matters worse, the passenger was unable to file a complaint due to the lack of complaint boxes or forms. The cabin crew reportedly didn’t listen to him either. He fell ill and finally lodged a complaint with the Deputy General Manager (Commercial) as soon as he landed.

The report added that Air India, in a letter dated July 12, 2002, expressed its regret over the incident and said it was investigating the matter. However, a week later, on July 19, Sundaraparipuranam filed a legal notice through his lawyer, explaining that he had stomach pain and was suffering from vomiting due to the incident. He demanded compensation of Rs 11,000.

Air India admitted that the passenger was a frequent traveler with them and such an incident had never happened before. It also opposed the justification of Rs 11 lakh as compensation. The transport company noted that it has outsourced catering to Ambassador Palava, a five-star hotel in Chennai. She said that since Sundarapariporanam did not involve the caterers in the claim, he was not entitled to it. He also argued that it was possible that it was Sundarapariporanam’s very fine poetry that he discovered at the meal.

Sundarapariporanam reportedly did not return the food tray to the staff, nor did he seek any help or medical attention, and hence the defendants cannot be held liable. She added that the apology she wrote to the passenger was merely a courtesy and not an admission of guilt.

Subsequently, the case went to trial and the trial court ordered Air India to pay INR 1,000 to the complainant. The carrier filed an appeal against the order. Finally, on October 10, Sundaraparipuranam won the case before the Madras High Court.

The court said that there was no evidence in any of the statements of Air India denying the incident anywhere. He agreed that there had been negligence and that the burden of proof was on the carrier to prove that it had exercised due diligence in the performance of its duty.

It also indicated that the passenger was not aware of the contract concluded between Air India and the caterer, and that his contract was with the carrier only.

The court set aside the Rs 1 lakh penalty since Sundarapariporanam did not provide any evidence to prove loss or injury, the report added. However, it ordered the carrier to pay the cost of the suit, including court fees and expenses of Rs 15,000 and counsel fees of Rs 20,000, a total of Rs 35,000 within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of the judgment.