Lisa Ray criticises Air India for denying medical waiver for ailing father

Indian-Canadian actor Lisa Ray has publicly criticised Air India for refusing a medical waiver for her 92-year-old father despite submitting a doctor’s letter. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Ray accused the airline of lacking empathy after she was forced to cancel her travel plans due to her father’s ill health but was denied a cancellation fee waiver.

“Here we go again @airindia. My father is 92, unwell and I have to cancel travel due to his ailing condition. Submitted doctor’s letter and the waiver was denied? How is that possible? Where is the empathy from an airline that is claiming to care about passengers?” she wrote, tagging the airline’s official account.

Air India responded to her complaint, asking for more details and expressing sympathy for her father’s condition.
“Dear Ms Ray, we empathize with your concern and wish your father a speedy recovery. Please help us with the email address from which you’ve written to us or the case ID (if any) via DM. We’ll look into it,” the airline replied.

However, Ray later posted a screenshot of her email exchange with the travel agency through which she had booked her ticket. The agency informed her that there was no provision for a medical waiver, contradicting her expectations. The email exchange also revealed that her father had been hospitalised at the time.

Please see details below pic.twitter.com/TtdRaMPEYG

— Lisa Ray (@Lisaraniray) March 19, 2025

Reports suggest that Ray had booked a non-refundable ticket, which meant the travel agency, rather than the airline itself, rejected her request for a waiver. Despite this, her criticism has fueled a larger conversation about Air India’s customer service practices.

Ray’s frustration adds to a growing list of complaints from high-profile passengers about Air India’s services in recent months.

February 2024: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was assigned a “broken” seat on a flight from Bhopal to Delhi. He alleged that airline staff told him they had already informed the management about the faulty seat.

November 2023: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram criticised Air India over flight delays, stating there had been “practically no improvement” since the Tata Group took over.

October 2023: Actor Tillotama Shome slammed the airline for an 8.5-hour delay on a Mumbai-London flight, saying passengers were left uninformed.

December 2023: A Delhi-based journalist flagged an 18-hour flight delay in Milan that disrupted her travel plans and caused her to miss a key family event.

Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej has repeatedly called out the airline for downgrading his business class seat and refusing a refund, stating that he had faced issues with Air India multiple times.

Despite these complaints, Air India has maintained that it takes customer feedback seriously and aims to improve its services. The airline has not issued an official statement on Ray’s case but has promised to review her complaint.