Air India responds to Lisa Ray's claim of having no empathy for her unwell father, says actor refused to pick solutions

Lisa Ray claimed that the airline had declined the waiver for her unwell father after she had to cancel the scheduled travel. Here's what the airline responded.

Actor Lisa Ray had posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday to call out Air India for denying the medical waiver for her ailing father. Now a day later, the airline service has come out with a response, saying that the actor's claims are ‘unfounded’. The statement also noted that Lisa failed to pick some of the solutions which were presented to her after the cancellation. (Also read: Lisa Ray slams airline for denying waiver after cancelling her 92-year-old father's travel: ‘Where is the empathy?’)

Lisa Ray slammed an airline service, claiming they had no empathy.

Air India's statement

In a statement, an Air India Spokesperson said, "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 X post, Lisa had said, “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???” She received a response from the X account of Air India, after which she submitted a screenshot of the medical emergency.