Insect leg found inside fruit bowl on Phuket flight.



Photo: Pantip.com user Magrood Baiwaeng

Bangkok Airways has apologized 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,