Insect leg found inside fruit bowl on Phuket flight


Images posted by Magrood Baiwaeng on Pantip.com shows "insect leg" on the fruit bowl.

PHUKET: -- Bangkok Airways has apologised after what is believed to be a large cockroach leg and other insect bits were found wrapped to a fruit bowl served to a passenger on a flight to Phuket.

A Pantip.com user with the account name Magood Baiwaeng posted on Sept 23 that on a Bangkok Airways flight to Phuket on Sept 12 his wife's fruit bowl had a cockroach leg stuck on the outside edge under the plastic film wrap.

He took and posted pictures of the dish, which also shows other insect bits on the side of the bowl.

He said he sent an email complaint to the airline, which reacted swiftly with a formal apology from a senior official of the customer relations division.

The airline gave his family three free domestic-travel tickets, which were delivered to his home along with a souvenir doll and a formal letter of apology.

The Bangkok Post asked Thavatvong Thanasumitra, executive vice president of corporate planning at Bangkok Airways, and chairman of Bangkok Air Catering Co (BAC), which is the airline's catering firm under the Bangkok Airways group, for an explanation.

Mr Thanavong said after looking at the picture he thought the insect leg was of some cricket species.

It possibly entered through the packing area, or had stuck on the plastic film wrap in the packing process. The food handler who passed the fruit bowls had not reported any foreign objects.

Quaity control staff were being questioned, he said.

He said the company has an internal pest control programme with over 120 insect monitoring traps placed around food handling and equipment areas to monitor the cockroach problem. He said more than 20 traps were also placed in vehicles that transport food products.

"No cockroach has been detected in any trap so far," Mr Thanavong asserted.

Most netizens commenting on the issue are quite impressed with the airline's response, but also said Bangkok Airways must improve health safety measures to ensure there is no repeat.


-- Phuket News 2013-10-01

Did they charge the passenger for the extra proteins?

How much you want to bet that insect legs will now be "found" on many more flights?

Lol - and the family probably got off the plane and bought large helpings of assorted insects from a vendors cart outside of the airport !

Maybe the complaint was that it was only the leg stuck there, and they were shorted the rest of the insect ?

Now that's the type of food Yingluk is talking about. None of that western crap on her overseas visits.

Why wasn't he sued for defamation? Isn't that how you make most negative publicity go away in Thailand?

Ever fly on Biman Airlines ...?? ... I'll take an insect leg (dead ) on the outside of my bowl .... VERSUS coakcroaches running LIVE up and down my seat and armrests and then in my food that too!!! And when pointing this out to any and all of the stewardess get a response from all of = "Ouf!! Where the hell do you come from...? " and just totally ignore you like you are intolerable ,,, ! Same in India on the trains .... ! However there ... on the trains ... 1 tiny mouse will create havoc !... but Hundreds of coakroaches running up and down and all around ,,, umph!! What is therrre Baba but a sillly einsect ...?? Just meditate and all'll be fine baba !!

Ever fly on Biman Airlines ...?? ... I'll take an insect leg (dead ) on the outside of my bowl .... VERSUS coakcroaches running LIVE up and down my seat and armrests and then in my food that too!!! And when pointing this out to any and all of the stewardess get a response from all of = "Ouf!! Where the hell do you come from...? " and just totally ignore you like you are intolerable ,,, ! Same in India on the trains .... ! However there ... on the trains ... 1 tiny mouse will create havoc !... but Hundreds of coakroaches running up and down and all around ,,, umph!! What is therrre Baba but a sillly einsect ...?? Just meditate and all'll be fine baba !!

As long as it takes off and lands, and I'm still in one piece - I'm happy. :)

That kind of thing is just not cricket! At first when I saw the headline I thought someone was pulling my leg. Bangkok Airways CEO's first thought was "its really going to kick off now".

Need a full investigation to find the rest of the insect.

Rentokill was te expensive to do pestcontroll in their HACCP food production facility i guess.

Can happen, ask infly crew to change your meal. Send e mail the the airline and done.

next day the eat them deep fried

Strange, I had these thoughts of the next pictures showing the bowl painted black.

That kind of thing is just not cricket! At first when I saw the headline I thought someone was pulling my leg. Bangkok Airways CEO's first thought was "its really going to kick off now".

Interesting to see how many whingers crawled all over this out of the woodwork and jumped all over it.

My concern was that everyone else would want thier own after one passenger got licky, but the report doesn't say if that occured.

Well done to BKK Air for their quick response - nice to see.

Is this really news?

These things are bound to happen occasionally.

These insects get everywhere!

Im surprised they dont serve insects on the bangkok - udon leg

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Someone else had obviously ordered the 'Isaan meal' and it was sent to the wrong seat.

[before you jump on me, I love Isaan and am quite partial to insects so long as they're dead and cooked].

Pretty awful, but the airline responded appropriately. Bangkok Airways has a great freebie lounge in BKK. Free internet, free magazines, free snacks, free latte. I get there early and make sure I have an aisle seat. Nothing like that with AirAsia where even water costs extra!

That kind of thing is just not cricket! At first when I saw the headline I thought someone was pulling my leg. Bangkok Airways CEO's first thought was "its really going to kick off now".

Well, it could have been a cricket's leg. :)

That's what happens when you test airline food on animals, poor thing.

Bangkok Air Stewardess...............Would like the chicken curry sir or the deep fried cockroach with rice.

Three free domestic tickets for the family is a very nice gesture from Bangkok Air. Cockroaches is a common problem in areas with food and beer, not only in Thailand, I'll bet it has happend before somewhere around the World.

I think the airline reacted well. Let's be honest: this can and will happen. I have been working in hotels for 30 years and even the best procedures are not 100%.

This is nothing compared with Tesco-Lotus, Seacon Square, where there are many cockroaches and even rats running around. I wrote a complaint but nothing happened. If it was Tesco UK, the supermarket would have been closed immediately and fumigated. I have even seen a large rat run over the foot of a member of Tesco's Staff and they were not at all concerned.

I was very ill after flying Bangkok Airways from Lampang last month and I put it down to the salad also.

This is life. A few years back I was staying at a 5-star brand-name hotel in Kuala Lumpur for a conference. In the hotel restaurant, I saw a largish cockroach scampering across a cheesecake so I alerted the restaurant manager. His response? He said something along the lines of "this happens whenever they spray the rooms... all the roaches come down here for a few days before they go back up". In his mind, that was sufficient 'explanation'. If I recall, they made a half-hearted attempted to find the critter... I think the cheesecake stayed put. At least this airline took the matter seriously...

Thailand - Kitchen of the World. Ahem.

This is life. A few years back I was staying at a 5-star brand-name hotel in Kuala Lumpur for a conference. In the hotel restaurant, I saw a largish cockroach scampering across a cheesecake so I alerted the restaurant manager. His response? He said something along the lines of "this happens whenever they spray the rooms... all the roaches come down here for a few days before they go back up". In his mind, that was sufficient 'explanation'. If I recall, they made a half-hearted attempted to find the critter... I think the cheesecake stayed put. At least this airline took the matter seriously...

then it is your responsibility to do something about it. Email the corporate headquarters, put a message in Tripadvisor etc.

Must have been packaged up in Issan.

There must be a joke in this somewhere:

On a flight to Udon Thani:

Passenger: Stewardess, there's a cockroach leg in my fruitbowl.

Stewardess: Shhhh! Keep it down, or everyone will want one!

Mr Thanavong said after looking at the picture he thought the insect leg was of some cricket species.

Ahh, the corporate planning guy is a closet insect scientist!

Thailand - Kitchen of the World. Ahem.

Hmm, if I remember it is London that has the most rats per capita. Just saying......