IndiGo flyer fumes over 'maccharon ka aatank’ on Lucknow-Delhi flight. Airline reaches out

Manisha Pande, Managing Editor at Newslaundry, has shared her unpleasant traveling experience with IndiGo, claiming that the whole journey was spent 'scratching and swatting’ due to several mosquitoes buzzing around inside the Lucknow to Delhi flight on Monday. Pande further criticized the response from the crew members of the budget-friendly airline, despite paying “ ₹4,000” for the ticket, which she believed isn't "cheap or low-cost”.

"When we asked the crew, the answer was: 'Door open tha, macchar aa gaye, kuch nahi kar sakte.' The solution they offered was some silly lemongrass patch that did nothing," Pande wrote on X.

"We paid ₹4,000+ per ticket for this. Not cheap. Not low-cost. Just low-effort. And this brings me to my pet peeve. Why do services in India suck so much unless you’re paying a hefty premium? Everything that offered decent value — Vistara, BluSmart — shuts down. What survives is mediocrity, poor hygiene, and apathy," she further added.

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Pande highlighted that the "mosquito menace" on IndiGo flights is a recurring issue and validated her stance by posting old news article screenshots in the comment section.

"What’s worse is that this isn’t a one-off! Plenty of complaints on Twitter and even newspaper articles on ‘maccharon ka aatank’, especially on flights taking off from Lucknow airport in the last month," Pande said. Attaching the screenshot of the news article, she further stated: "Crazy how people are expected to just suck it up and suffer after paying a good amount. @IndiGo6E, you literally have pieces from 2022 on this, and I get you can’t manage mosquito control at an airport, but at least raise it seriously with airport authorities and find a solution! Ridiculous @DGCAIndia."

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Pande's post swiftly went viral on social media, prompting a response from IndiGo. "Ms. Pande, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. We take your onboard experience seriously and strive to make every journey comfortable and pleasant. To prevent the entry of mosquitoes, our aircraft undergo regular fumigation, and patches are placed on seats," the official X account of IndiGo wrote.

"We're also coordinating with the airport to address this effectively. While we take every precaution, we hope you understand that mosquitoes can still enter through open doors," it added.

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Despite the response from IndiGo, Pande continued her attack and urged the airline to "move beyond templated Twitter apologies and actually work on a solution."

"Several people have raised this issue before me, from different cities across India. While I understand you're not solely responsible for airport premises, this is clearly not an isolated incident. Your senior management needs to move beyond templated Twitter apologies and actually work on a solution," she wrote.