Jet Airways bans meat products, fliers upset

For Marcus Moraes, three packets of goan sausages and six cans of tuna were the most precious take-away from a recent Goa holiday.

For Marcus Moraes, three packets of goan sausages and six cans of tuna were the most precious take-away from a recent Goa holiday.


However, the Andheri resident was shocked when the Jet Airways staff at Goa’s Dabolim airport informed him that the airline did not permit carriage of meat products even as check-in baggage.

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“I was unaware of this rule. Otherwise, I could have opted for another airline,” said Moraes, 56, who works in an Indian multi-national corporation.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said the ban on carrying fish, crab, meat and poultry products as check-in baggage was imposed in June after passengers complained of their baggage getting soiled by seepage from bags containing meat products.

Jet is the first domestic airline to impose such a ban.

The soft announcement has caught passengers unawares. Most were perplexed about why even vacuum-packed goods and canned products are being confiscated.

“I was not allowed to carry canned fish pickle. There is no chance of seepage or foul odour. The airline has to have a better explanation,” rued Thane resident Akhil Saxena, who had to dump the food in a trash can at the Kolkata airport earlier this month. Upset meat lovers are using online forums to air their grouse.

“We hope the government intervenes and demands an explanation from the airline,” said Stephen Dias, a Goan who has been advocating a boycott of the airline on his blog, goa365.blogspot.com.

Travel agents too claimed to be unaware of the policy change. “Usually we get such updates from the airline so that passengers could be informed. But in this case we had no intimation,” said a travel agent.