Maggots in Qantas Trail Mix

[Reggie]

As reported on ninemsn;

Qantas apologises for maggots in trail mix

Qantas has apologised after a mother travelling on a flight from LA to Melbourne was given a pack of trail mix infested with maggots.
Victoria Cleven, 42, said she was given two packets of the trail mix as a snack during the flight last week, the Herald Sun reports.
She opened one of the packets in the darkened plane and began eating the nuts and dried fruits without turning her overhead light on.
"It tasted strange, and I turned the light on and looked at the rest of the packet, and just started seeing maggots coming out of it everywhere," she said.
"I couldn't talk. I was nearly throwing up. I was beside myself."
Her 15-year-old son checked two other packets of the Australian-made trail mix and found they also contained maggots.
A Qantas spokesman said the airline had contacted the supplier and is currently investigating how the issue occurred.
"Qantas sincerely apologises to Mrs Cleven for the incident that occurred on her return flight from LAX to Melbourne,” the spokesman said.
Ms Cleven, who paid $1600 for her ticket, said she was offered $400 as compensation by the airline

[netgrom]

$400 as compensation? On one hand that seems low but at the end of the day if your at a restaurant and it happened you would just get a free meal not the taxi home, its more the suppliers fault no mention of the brand.

[Nigelinoz]

Not a nice experience for the lady but to be honest I'm not putting too much blame on Qantas,when you serve per packed snacks like this there will be times when despite the best quality control things go wrong.
As I said not a nice thing but I am sure that QF will look after the lady.
The story is on page two of the Herald Sun-which in my opinion is about 10 pages better than it deserves.
Cheers
N'oz

[TonyHancock]

There is no doubt this was an unpleasant experience but why go to the newspapers with it. $400 is not an inconsiderable sum and the woman in question does not appear to have been maimed or severely injured. I sometimes wonder just where we are heading as a society.

[Sprucegoose]

Come on you lawyers out there. Wasn't that the Stevenson case?

[nlagalle]

Shouldn't the manufacturer be at fault though? Sealed pack etc..

[medhead]

Makes the case for gamma radiation sterilisation pretty well.


Sent from the Throne

[oz_mark]

Come on you lawyers out there. Wasn't that the Stevenson case?

a.k.a. the snail in the bottle case!

[AVC]

Shouldn't the manufacturer be at fault though? Sealed pack etc..

The manufacturer didn't take money off the passenger for a plane ticket. The PAX in question is Qantas' customer, therefore it's up to Qantas to smooth it out.
If Qantas then want to attack the manufacturer (as they should) then it's up to them.

When we had our shop, if someone bought a faulty item, we didn't say "go see xxxxx for a refund". We would refund or whatever. If we shipped a faulty item, we would pay return shipping, as well refunding or replacing the item and re-sending it for free. That's called customer service.

IMO Qantas should have given her a freebie flight, and sent her a big letter of apology, which basically puts the blame on the manufacturer. Win win. For Qantas $400 IS an inconsiderate sum, when it comes to bad press, and very possibly a lawsuit.

[BAM1748]

Give her a free flight, then deduct that fare from the next payment to the supplier. If the supplier complains I'd tell them I'll see them in court if they'd prefer. Maybe not the correct process but certainly helps focus the supplier.

Matt