An Air France passenger was horrified when he discovered that the carpet under his feet was wet with blood.
Journalist Habib Battah was on a flight from Paris to Toronto on Jun 30 when he noticed a strange smell coming from the footwell under his and his wife’s seats shortly after takeoff.
“I kept smelling something gross and couldn’t figure it out. Until I got up and looked down, I noticed a big stain across the whole carpet of seats,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that it smelled like faeces.
CNN reported that the couple, who were moving temporarily from Lebanon to the US, were travelling with their two cats who were in a separate carrier in the footwell.
The blood had soaked through to the cat carrier as well – and he had to endure another seven hours in the same seat.
Mr Battah said flight attendants gave him wet wipes and gloves, before commenting that a passenger had “haemorrhaged” on the flight before.
“The Air France staff crowded around, shocked because they claimed a cleaning crew had removed the seats after the sick passenger incident but apparently not cleaned the floor,” he wrote.
Air France told CNN in a statement that as the flight was fully booked, Mr Battah could not be moved to another seat.
It confirmed that a passenger had been unwell on a Jun 29 flight from Paris to Boston and was treated by medics on arrival.
“An internal investigation has been launched to understand the reasons for this situation,” the airline added.
Mr Battah said Air France called him three days after the flight and told him that the blood had been mixed with faeces. The airline offered to have his cats washed and suggested a US$500 voucher, which he declined.
“I don’t think it’s right, I think it’s a serious biohazard and should be investigated thoroughly,” he told CNN.
“I don’t want to be shushed with some change. Our airfare cost US$2,500 – is a 20 per cent discount worth sitting in blood and faeces for? I think it was gross negligence and someone should be held accountable.”
“Incidents happen – we’re human, we bleed – but once that plane lands, you’ve got to clean the aircraft. It’s egregious that it didn’t happen.”
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