Man claims he ‘sustained serious injuries’ to mouth after biting into piece of broken dish in inflight meal

Passenger is suing United and Austrian Airlines following the incident

United Airlines is being sued, along with Austrian Airlines (Getty Images)

A passenger who claims he ‘sustained serious injuries’ to his mouth after biting into a piece of broken dish in his inflight meal is suing the airlines involved.

Rainer Krenstetter from Florida filed a lawsuit against United Airlines and Austrian Airlines. which alleges the incident left him with permanent injuries.

The suit, seen by Insider, says the “accident” took place during a flight from Vienna, Austria, to Chicago on 19 July 2021.

It claims that Mr Krenstetter “suffered pain, agony and mental anguish” following the incident, and that he has experienced economic losses as a result.

Both United and Austrian Airlines should pay “full, fair and reasonable damages”, the suit claims.

The carriers and Mr Krenstetter’s attorney, Erin Applebaum, declined to comment further on the lawsuit while the case is pending.

It’s far from the first time a passenger has founf something unexpected in an inflight meal.

In October 2022, a man on a Mumbai to Bangkok flight Vistara flight alleged he had found a “small cockroach” in his meal, sharing a picture on social media.

However, the airline claimed the “cockroach” was actually a “piece of sautéed ginger”.

“The meal sample was sent to the laboratory and thoroughly checked under digital stereo microscope,” a spokesperson told The Independent at the time.

“Based on the reports, we confirm that no foreign object / insect was found in it. In fact, the object in question was found to be a piece of sautéed ginger.”

Meanwhile, in summer the same year, a SunExpress flight employee claimed they were eating their crew meal when they found a small snake’s head among the potato and vegetables.

Photos of the inflight meal and the offending item were shared on video that was picked up by Turkish news site Gazete Duvar.

A representative for SunExpress told Turkish press that the incident was “absolutely unacceptable”, and that the airline had paused its contract with the food supplier in question while an investigation was launched.