Dubai airline offers passenger ‘gesture of goodwill’ after cockroach flight fiasco

Canadian given $500 voucher after one of the insects landed on her face on flight from Beirut to Dubai.

Rosemonde Azar describes how a cockroach flew on to her face while she was on a flight from Beirut to Dubai. The airline has offered her a US$500 voucher as a goodwill gesture. Satish Kumar / The NatiShow more

DUBAI // A woman who said she shared a flight from Beirut to Dubai earlier this month with cockroaches has been offered a “gesture of goodwill” by the airline.

Rosemonde Azar, 22, a Canadian, said flydubai offered her a US$500 (Dh1,825) voucher to use when booking future flights with the airline after she took to Facebook to vent her grievances on September 21.

An airline spokesman said: “We responded within two hours with an offer that we would contact her.

“We reached her by telephone on September 26 to listen to her feedback and then made several attempts to contact her by telephone but were unable to reach her again until September 28.

“We have offered the passenger a gesture of goodwill, which she has accepted.”

Ms Azar said: “The flydubai representative apologised a few times, saying that the airline was sorry that was my experience and sorry for how stressful it must have been.

“The also told me they were investigating the issue because they had never had such a problem, and it was very unusual.”

Ms Azar asked to be compensated after she encountered two cockroaches on her flight, one of which landed on her face.

“I am relieved to learn that they are investigating the issue, and I sincerely hope they manage to fix the problem,” she said, adding that she found the airline’s compensation to be reasonable.

She also said that, although not her first choice, she would consider flying with the airline again.

“Considering they did make the effort to apologise, assure me an investigation is taking place and compensate me for how stressful it was, I do feel more like a valued customer,” Ms Azar said.