An Air India flyer has accused the airline staff at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi of mismanagement, due to which one of her kittens went missing. According to complaints raised on Twitter, Sony S Somar alleged that his friend Jangneichong Karong had taken two kittens with her for travel in the AI889 Delhi to Imphal flight.

However, at the check-in counter, Karong was asked to reschedule the plane or upgrade to business class to be able to carry the pets with her in the cabin. Upon realising that both options were unavailable, she agreed to let the staff take the kittens via cargo.

She claimed that prior to boarding at Terminal 3, the staff informed her that one of the kittens named Phoenix had escaped from the ‘secured and sturdy’ cage. Sharing screenshots of the email sent to the Tata Group-owned company, she asserted that it was impossible for a tiny kitten to kick open the latch unless the staff had been careless with the cage. Holding the on-ground team responsible for the negligence, she said that her requests for CCTV footage also went unanswered.Karong was ‘almost forced’ to give consent to fly with just one kitten, she added in the letter to the staff. “This is really not done, especially for a passenger who was ready to pay and in fact, paid all the required amount to have my 2 kittens fly with me,” she added.

In the initial tweet shared by Sony, he tagged Ratan Tata and wrote, “My friend's pet is missing due to negligence by Air India staff. This is a heart-wrenching tragedy and your negligence is inexcusable. You must take responsibility for your actions and make things right immediately.” He also accused a staff member of rude behaviour and inaction by the authorities concerned. “Moreover, last time she spoke to the duty manager (Indrajeet), he was mean to her, asked her not to call back and disconnected the call on her,” he wrote.

Commenting on the post, Karong said that Air India had apologised over call.“I got a call to extend their apologies, but it’s not the apologies that I need now, but my kitten to be reunited with her brother. Makes me question how actively they are searching. Do u have CCTV at all Air India? A kitten not trained to fast will not stay hungry for 3 days.” She added that despite three days of following up with the airline, there was no assistance provided.“The latest mail was asking them to allow a team of friends to go look for Phoenix….Patience is running out.”