Air India Responds To Lisa Ray’s Outburst Over Refused Medical Waiver For Actress' Ailing Father

Actor Lisa Ray took to her X account (previously Twitter) on Wednesday to criticise Air India for refusing a medical waiver for her unwell father.

A day later, the airline responded, dismissing her allegations as "unfounded" and pointing out that Lisa did not accept several alternative solutions offered after her cancellation.

Photo Credit: https://x.com/Lisaraniray; https://x.com/airindia

Air India's Response

An Air India spokesperson issued a statement saying, "While fully empathising with the passenger, we would like to put forth the following clarifications:

• The claim that Air India did not display empathy for her unwell father is unfounded, as the passenger herself mentioned that she is booked to fly Air India along with two other co-passengers that does not include her father, whose medical documents she has submitted.

• The passenger had purchased the ticket from a travel agent and had first reached out to the travel agent, and not to Air India.

• After the passenger raised the matter to Air India, the Air India team reached out to her and, as an exception, offered solutions that included a free date change or a one-year period to utilise the tickets for future travel. She declined the offer and requested for a full refund of her ticket, instead.

"We urge the media to restrain itself from maligning the reputation of the airline without corroborating facts. Air India flies millions of passengers and such misleading news reports belie the airline's resolve to customer centricity and empathy."

In her original X post, Lisa wrote, "Here we go again @airindia My father is 92, unwell and I have to cancel travel due to his ailing condition. Submitted doctors letter and the waiver was denied? How is that possible? Where is the empathy from an airline that is claiming to care about passengers???" After receiving a reply from Air India's X account, she provided a screenshot of the medical emergency documentation.