Qantas passenger finds needle in his meal

Melbourne, Australia - November 19, 2012: Qantas Airways Airbus A380 registered VH-OQF takes off as QF93 to Los Angeles (LAX) from Melbourne International Airport at Tullamarine, Victoria.
By Hannah Edensor


While Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce launches his own law suit over a recent pie attack, the airline is fending off its own legal battle.

Per News Corp, a passenger on a a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney insists he found a hypodermic needle in his butter chicken, as Qantas strongly refutes the claims.

Ben Sabeto, 51, has filed a lawsuit for damages in the NSW District Court, with his Shine Lawyers’ solicitor David Adams saying Sabeto was in seat 29B of flight QF553 on December 19, 2016 when he was served a meal of butter chicken with cauli pea masala, per News Corp.

According to Sabeto’s Statement of Claim, mid-way through his meal, he felt a sharp pain on his tongue, and after spitting his mouthful into a serviette, “saw the remnants of his meal, droplets of his own blood and the tip of a hypodermic needle”.

Per the Statement, cabin crew was notified, and the supervisor took the serviette and needle away to photograph it. Sabeto was told Qantas reps would be in touch to talk about the incident.

But his claim said he never received any contact, and as a result of the incident in December last year, has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“Having come across a myriad of obscure cases in the past, I can confidently say that I have not come across a case such as this before — and can only sympathise with Ben for the amount of stress and anxiety he has had to endure because of this incident,” said his lawyer.

Per News Corp, Adams added, “Rather despicably, however, they did offer Ben another meal immediately following his complaint on-board and insisted he take a bottle of wine for his concerns”.

But a Qantas spokesperson told Travel Weekly, “We have been in contact with Mr Sabeto to inform him that we have rejected his claim based on reports by our crew onboard the aircraft as well as an investigation of our catering supplier.

“There is no evidence to show that a syringe was in the meal at any stage during preparation in the catering centre or onboard.”

Travel Weekly understands Qantas meals are scanned twice by metal detectors before being loaded onto any aircraft, meaning if the needle was in a meal, it would be identified.

In addition, Travel Weekly also understands that the machines used for meals on Sabeto’s flight were tested and found to be working normally.Per News Corp, Adams said Sabeto would be claiming the “full scope of damages under both the Civil Aviation (Carrier’s Liability) Act and the Australian Consumer Law for his injuries and consequential loss”.

 

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