DUBAI // A Canadian woman is seeking compensation from flydubai after she said she shared a flight from Beirut to Dubai last week with cockroaches.

Rosemonde Azar, 22, said she was about to fall asleep when she spotted the insect.

“I was sitting next to the window and just about to doze off when I saw a fairly sized cockroach right in front of me,” she said. “The bug went into the seams of the window and I called one of the flight attendants for assistance.

“Cabin crew were unable to locate the cockroach after opening and closing the window shutter and offered me another seat.”

Ms Azar said that the “nightmare” did not end there, as she encountered another cockroach when she moved to another seat at least 10 rows away from her previous one.

“I was already nervous and then, to my surprise, there was another cockroach that flew and landed on my face,” she said.

“It was completely unacceptable. It’s one thing to maintain low fares on the flight but another thing entirely to not maintain basic health standards.”

The National approached flydubai for comment but did not receive one.

The airline had said in a response to Ms Azar on its official Facebook page: “We can assure you that our aircraft are cleaned regularly in line with aviation standards and don’t like that this has been your flydubai experience.

“We understand how frustrating this must have been and we thank you for your feedback. We aim to offer our passengers a reliable, convenient and affordable travel experience. We’ll be sure to pass this feedback on to the relevant department.”

They went on to say Ms Azar should send them a private message if they would like the airline to investigate further.

Ms Azar said she believes she has the right to be compensated and that she has a return flight booked with flydubai.

“I don’t want to fly back with them and I think it’s fair that, after my experience, they give my money back so I can take another airline,” she said.

Ms Azar said she sent the airline a message detailing the incident but they had yet to respond to her.

dmoukhallati@thenational.ae