Okay, this is sort of hilarious, and I think many people will get a kick out of this (and as you’ll hopefully see, I’m not intending to be mean toward the person who initially posted the video, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be entertained).
Continue reading: TikToker Complains Air India Lounge Smells Like Indian Food, Gets Roasted
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This guy who roasted the tiktoker is a legend - his goal is to ‘de-influence’. A must follow account on Instagram.
Plenty of valid complaints about that particular less-than-great JFK lounge, but the smell of their food isn’t the issue, at-all. Better than the various iterations of Wingtips-Primeclass-HelloSky that are the other Priority Pass options. Amex, Chase, C1 far better. Ideally, D1, SkyClubs, Virgin or EK instead.
Ben, why not do a post about dumb things you've said. (Would that Africa "riot" post from a few weeks ago make the cut?)
Wasn't there a Japanese influencer a few weeks ago who complained their AIR INDIA flight to INDIA had a lot of Indians on the flight ... maybe these people just go to Epcot?
Tandooried. I think her POV was badly explained and backfired. The aroma of food in any lounge should not pervade the entire area. Bad ventilation. I love Indian food, however I’ve been in places where I can smell it in the toilet and on people in public. Always cook with the windows open and/ or good ventilation. Years ago I had a friend who worked in a fish restaurant. He used to go out straight after work, and I had to tell him not to do so due to the pungent smell of cod, haddock and halibut in a club was not appropriate.
Her comment was poorly worded but correct - if the smell of food (especially as pungent as indian food) is permeating the whole room it means there are ventilation problems. Besides, someone might want to enjoy a coffee without smelling like a curry.
An Air India SHOULD NOT smell like Indian food. Most lounges in India do not smell like Indian food. The Adani lounge at Mumbai or other lounges in DEL do not smell like Indian food. The lounge in question probably has poor air circulation or something else, but I do not expect to go to a lounge in India to smell of Indian food.
And I am Indian before anyone starts getting their knickers in a twist.
What a spoiled little kid. He should be thankful it smells like Indian food, and not like India.
I think everybody agrees that a lounge should not smell like food. no matter the lounge and the food.
But saying this lounge was the worst she ever was in... can not have been in many lounges especially in the USA.
Why do you continue to post stories on this website over ONE customer complaint out of 7 billion people? OMAAT has turned into TMZ.
The real 1990 or the alleged ‘fake’ 1990, that is the question? Posted only to add a click to Ben’s click-bait article.
Twenty years ago, our family was booked on a Swiss Air flight from Chicago to Munich. Swiss was overbooked. Although we had two young children, Swiss aggressively pushed us to give up our seats and fly Air India instead. Once bribed with $1600, I agreed.
Unlike most meals in economy, the food on Air India was GREAT. Also, if someone wanted a vegetarian meal, no problem. Also, I learned that Indian snack foods are really fantastic and have been a fan ever since.
The bottom line was we got to Munich five minutes later than we would have if we stayed with Swiss Air.
$1600 for five minutes and I would guess the food was better.
Scroll on by Jacob. You can do that. As of yet you’re not legally required to read every article.
COME WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Daadisnacks is the best (he's the one roasting the TikTok influencer)
Excellent point.
I actually stick to eating hot fish only in restaurants because cooking it at home permeates too much of the house.
At home I can enjoy smoked salmon, pre-cooked prawns, etc without regretting it afterwards.
If you are stuck in economy get the Asian veggie meal since it will be Indian food.
So yummy even on United!!
Multiple flight attendants when they deliver the food have told me it is their favorite. One even said that she would get me some food from business class if I let her have the Asian veggie meal. Haha
"OMAAT has turned into TMZ"
So I see this kind of comment a lot and I genuinely don't understand where it comes from. I've been reading this blog for well over a decade and it's always had its fair share of lighthearted 'news'.
Things like this article, from 2014: https://onemileatatime.com/fight-breaks-russian-flight/
Or this one, from 2016: https://onemileatatime.com/comped-concierge-key-video/
I feel like people just see stuff they don't like and assume its the first time they see something they don't like, when it's likely they just forget things they mildly don't like seeing
@TikToker said:
“It just really smelled like Indian food, and I know that’s just what they had there, and I honestly could’ve stayed in here and been perfectly fine, but I have a really sensitive nose, and I just couldn’t get over the smell. So if you’re fine with the smell of Indian food and like kind of just a mediocre lounge, then you could totally go here. If you’re someone who doesn’t have a good sense of smell, you’d be fine, but not me, unfortunately.”
Judging by her writing skills, less time on TikTok and less time in a lounge that most reasonable people would understand would likely smell like Indian food and more time in a few writing, grammar, and semantics courses would greatly benefit her.
Of course, I'd be very disappointed if the lounge DIDN'T smell like Indian food given that I love South Asian cuisine and my nose is so sensitive I can sniff out an Indian restaurant or grocery store a mile away.
Maybe all us South Asian cuisine lovers should send her bottles of asafoetida (hing, also referred to as "devil's sweat") and then she MIGHT have a complaint.
@Jacob said:
"...OMAAT has turned into TMZ."
OMAAT is so far away from the likes of TMZ and VFTW that I wonder if he's read any of them beyond the headlines for any length of time.
It's quite evident from the quality of the content (except for the comma abuse, my pet peeve) that Lucky is the hardest workin' man in the airlines and points-and-miles SOTG; yeah, he occasionally goes Gary Leff and posts a trashy article or two but, hey, with all the caviar and champagne on this site, can't really frown on a Twinkie or Big Mac every now and again.
A bit click-baity, but better than "How does one access the Air India Lounge?"...perhaps a follow-up post is now warranted?
Have used this lounge as the "waiting area" when the 3-hour rule didn't apply before jumping into Amex or SkyClub or Virgin. Don't remember the Indian food smelling like much (nor being particularly tasty).
A boring, cramped space, but some passible food if hungry, decent views and self-pour mid-level spirits. Better than other standard PP options (ex VS when it's available).
I'm sorry, but if you have a "sensitive nose" then you really have no excuse. You can smell the Indian food in this entire corner of the terminal! It smells amazing the moment you go up the stairs to where all the lounges are located.
I cannot imagine an Air India lounge being any better than an Air India plane. She may have complained of the smell but I can only assume cleanliness is an issue as well.
She is right. That's where SQ sent or may still send its J class pax. It is the worse lounge I have ever visited.
I've been in dozens (literally) of places that serve Indian food. There is always, always a detectable smell of Indian food. Just like steakhouses smell like steaks, beer halls smell like beer. It's not a bad thing.
Places with food aren't meant to be sterile, bland, industrial-smelling experiences (and the desire for that surely explains a lot about the atrocity of American "cuisine").
More broadly i think we're seeing (both the original tiktoker and some of the comments here) the American fear of smelling like "anything". The triumph of consumer products businesses that have sold you on everything from "body deodorant" to "febreze" being an absolute necessity have made using one of your primary senses a negative experience. What a weird culture.
Agree that there is probably a deeper issue with the lounge. Also agree that it is not the worst lounge. It was probably well equipped. I think some of the most basic lounges I have been it were worse and some lounges of certain airlines that have needed a refresh for decades were worse. Furthermore, I would hope for the AI lounge to serve Indian food....
I've been in that lounge and my recollection was not that it smelled like Indian food (which it may have) but that it was filthy and the furniture was falling apart. It has to be the worst lounge at JFK, regardless of the smell.