Man sues Qantas over airline food, claims he found needle

Ben Sabeto said he found a sharp object in his inflight butter chicken. File photo / 123RF

Qantas is being sued by a man who claims he almost ate a hypodermic needle that was in his butter chicken served on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney.

Although Qantas insists it is impossible for a metal object to make its way into in-flight meals, Ben Sabeto, 51, of Bribie Island in Queensland has filed a lawsuit for damages in the New South Wales District Court.

The Statement of Claim lodged by Shine Lawyers' solicitor David Adams said Mr 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.

The hypodermic needle Ben Sabeto claims was in his butter chicken on a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Sydney.

After a few mouthfuls, Mr Sabeto felt a sharp pain on the tip of his tongue and spat out what was in his mouth into a serviette.

"Upon inspecting the serviette, Mr Sabeto saw the remnants of his meal, droplets of his own blood and the tip of a hypodermic needle," said the claim.

The cabin crew was notified and the supervisor took the serviette and needle and photographed the material.

Mr Sabeto asked that they be returned to him, and he was told someone from Qantas would be in touch to discuss the incident.

The Statement of Claim said no contact was forthcoming.

Mr Adams said Mr 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".

"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 Mr Adams.