Air India on Tuesday issued a warning to its crew members after a hotel in London complained about some flight attendants taking home food in boxes from the hotel’s breakfast buffet. The crew brought boxes and packed the food so that it can be eaten later.
After the embarrassing incident, the Air India authorities issued a notice to the cabin crew titled, ‘A buffet is not a takeaway’ on the warning note. The note read, “We have received an unfortunate email from the management of (the) hotel in London stating that some AI crew members regularly come down for breakfast with empty boxes into which they fill food items from the buffet, presumably to eat later.”
The Assistant General Manager said that the letter warned that AI would have to take serious disciplinary actions if this was not followed, it said, “we are aware that this could be a very small minority indulging in such a behaviour.” The note by Assistant General Manager (AGM) also said, to the Air India Crew, “This may include, not being scheduled on international sectors, as we have no desire to allow the reputation of Air India to be tarnished by a handful of such individuals.”
The spokesperson for Air India regarding this matter said “Initially this letter appears to be fake because an AGM-grade officer is not authorised to send a circular that has pan India implications. We are investigating the issue.” The agitated Air India crew complained that they did receive the said note 15 days before and added that the said AGM was promoted only 15 days ago and a notice of such sorts has irked the crew.
A senior cabin crew member speaking about the AGM’s decision provided a justification to the embarrassing act and said, “We land in London either at 7.30 A.M., or 6.30 P.M. We are dead tired by then as it is 14-15 hours from the time we have left home. So we just want to crash. Unlike earlier when the layover was 2 days, it’s now only 26 hours and so we have to catch up on sleep before the next flight. Even so, only a couple of us would be bringing boxes to fill and eat later. Most don’t do that.” He also added, “It’s the worst for cabin crew who have been taken on contract as they are paid 60% less than the regular crew. The layover allowance is meagre and ranges from $ 600- $ 1200 per month during which time we do at least ten layovers.”
The crew member who wanted to maintain anonymity said that the said hotel doesn’t have free room service and charged 10% for every service so as to discourage this practice. Also the menu for room service is limited to sandwiches and English breakfast which makes the crew unenthusiastic about getting dressed and going down to the dining hall. Also as the hotel is closer to Heathrow Airport it leaves no option of travelling 10 miles into the city after tedious work. The authorities have however strictly issued a notice that such activities should not be practiced in future for maintaining the brand image.
