TikToker Complains Air India Lounge Smells Like Indian Food, Gets Roasted

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).

Air India Lounge JFK “review” backfires hilariously

A popular TikTok user posted a response video to another smaller content creator who covers “travel & food,” after she posted a roughly minute-long video about her experience at the Air India Lounge JFK. She accessed the lounge via Priority Pass, and declares it “the worst airport lounge” she has ever been in, while acknowledging she “feels kind of bad saying that.”

She points out how there was no wait to get into the lounge, and therefore she should’ve known it wouldn’t be that good. So, what was the problem with the lounge? Aside from it being basic, she seems to have two issues.

The first issue is that upon entering the lounge, she noticed there was just one other female in the lounge, and everyone else was male, which made her “slightly uncomfortable.”

But she then says that “the worst thing about this lounge was the smell,” and that it “really smelled like Indian food.” The dude who does the response video is just *chef’s kiss* with his delivery:

“Allow me to offer a helping hand. Air India is an airline that transports 20 million people per year to and from India. Hence the name Air India. And oh my god, you guys, it turns out that people who like going to India also like Indian food.”

That was funny, but in the TikToker’s defense…

While I think the general discussion around this is hilarious, in the interest of being fair, here’s the extra context:

“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.”

So I think that qualifier is largely fair, in the sense that this just isn’t the right lounge for her. However:

• It’s probably not fair to label this “the worst lounge” based on one not liking the smell of Indian food, though it makes for a good headline
• One can have “a good sense of smell” and still like Indian food (raises hand!)

At the end of the day, I think this is what the democratization of media looks like. Lots of content creators don’t necessarily have huge followings, so they don’t typically face much scrutiny for what they post. But TikTok can make anything go viral, and suddenly every word in a content piece is being scrutinized.

As someone who has been blogging for nearly 18 years, I can certainly say I’ve had my fair share of lessons in saying stupid things, and realizing how dumb they sounded in retrospect. So I hope this TikToker takes this in stride, and can just laugh off the whole thing, while learning a lesson in how the internet sometimes picks things apart, and can be unforgiving.

Bottom line

A TikToker posted her thoughts on the Air India Lounge JFK, which she accessed with Priority Pass. Her primary complaint (other than the lack of women) was how the lounge smelled like Indian food, which elicited roughly the response you’d expect.

In fairness to her, she claims that she has a sensitive nose, and that this lounge should be fine for those who don’t have a “good sense of smell” (lol).

What do you make of this Air India Lounge JFK TikTok drama?