Air India

✅ Trip Verified | As I entered the Air India aircraft (Boeing 777) there was no fresh smell but a sensation of stale air. During the 15-hour flight, none of the tv screens was working. The announcement was made over the public address system that the tv screens were faulty, for which they apologized. AC too may not have been working because the air was humid and stuffy. None of the cabin crew came around offering water or other services. Throughout the flight, people were walking up and down the aisle to fetch water. For lunch they also included the snack meant for tea, so crew can be spared the trouble of serving again at tea time. The flight was so deplorable that I cancelled my return trip to Vancouver by Air India and booked on Lufthansa instead, even though I had to lose a substantial amount of money. Never again Air India in my life.

✅ Trip Verified | It was a totally chaotic experience. No web check in from Vancouver as it is not in the drop down list.I called customer service and the poor lady could not help me much. The flight is totally basic. No inflight entertainment whatsoever. The seats are broken and dirty. No reading light or call button. Thankfully I was forewarned so I had downloaded movies for kids on their computers. I had booked seats with more leg space but despite me paying extra for this I did not get the chosen seats. This was frustrating. Nor will I get repaid for the extra fare I paid as now I dont have time to run after them. The heating system was overworking and the aircraft was boiling. When I asked staff to lower the temperature they were giving weird explanations that we are flying over north pole and temperature outside is minus 60. Finally one of them told me the aircraft is old and their was a technical glitch. The thermostat was not working. The saving grace was that most of the staff was hospitable and felt embarrassed by the poor quality aircraft themselves. They commiserated with us as they were not responsible for the poor quality provided by AI. The lady next to me helped me with my frustrated tired kids. On the whole I would not recommend this flight. New management has a huge task ahead of them.

Not Verified | I realize that Tatas have a huge task ahead of them to set the airline on a proper trajectory. However, my experience was not bad except the food which was the worst I’ve ever had. The staff were excellent and the overall flight was very comfortable and on time.

✅ Trip Verified | Absolute worst flight experience! The aircraft was so old and broken down. The seats were super uncomfortable. Most of the TVs did not work. The staff was extremely rude and did their job horribly. When I complained about the TV not working, they did nothing to help. The overhead lights and assistance buttons also did not work. When I asked for water, they told me to go to the back and get it myself. The bathrooms were disgusting. No toilet paper or hand sanitizer. Travellers were not even provided basic toiletries like toothbrushes and toothpaste even though it was a 16 hour flight. I will never be travelling on this airline again and do not recommend anyone else to either!

✅ Trip Verified | Our flight was cancelled at 12.30 when all customers were waiting for boarding which is unacceptable and an alternative flight was also not arranged which is completely zero tolerance. Refund is not the solution for this as we have value for our time. An alternative should have been kept in case of technical issues.

✅ Trip Verified | I travelled in AI 309 Melbourne to New Delhi. It’s one of the most mediocre Business classes I ever travelled in. It is more like glorified Premium Economy. Some airlines premium economy is better than business class of Air India. Enough Legroom and comfortable but Zero privacy to the extent you must share the table with the person sitting next to you. No storage whatsoever. Charging points not working. If you chose the windows seat, then then you must literally jump over the aisle seat person if they are sleeping. Inflight Entertainment: The inflight entertainment is laughable. If you are not Indian, you will have like 10 movies to chose from. TV shows have only one episode. No music to listen to. Food: Its typical Indian food be prepared for that. Service: They server two meals and a round of drinks of your choice. You will be asked for drinks twice only. Cost: it was slightly cheaper than other business class when I say slightly 1200AUD less than other flights. And I chose it, which is clearly a mistake. Will not recommend this carrier.

✅ Trip Verified | I am horrified! I've never been treated so badly in my entire life! I showed up for my flight 3 hours early. When I went to check in, I was asked if I had filled out the Air Suvidha form. I had not, as I had not been notified by Air India that this form was required, and I looked all over their website and found no mention of this form. I have been to India 4 times before and knew to have all my pertinent documents with me, which I did, but nobody told me I had to upload them to a special website. Filling out the form was impossible to do on a cell phone, I couldn't get the documents to be small enough, so the form kept being rejected. There was nobody there helping all the people who had not filled out the form because none of them were notified in advance. There were a half dozen of us that were not permitted to check in because we were unable to complete the form on our cell phones, among those turned away were an elderly couple and a young couple with an infant baby. This is totally unconscionable! The couple with the infant baby asked if they could at least be compensated with a hotel room, and the heartless Air India employee behind the counter said, sorry there is nothing we can do for you. Then to add insult to injury, when trying to rebook the flight, Air India is charging a $300 no show fee. This airline doesn't care in the least about customer service. I will never book a flight with Air India again. Do yourself a favor and book with a different airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Now after take over by Tata, change is visual when flying Air India. Did web checkin and no check in baggage so no experience of Check in/ Boarding was smooth, also flown on time and arrived on time. In flight meal was good though now they should start serving non veg in economy class too which was stopped by management few years back. Staff were courteous.

Not Verified | I have often heard of horror stories of international travel in Air India but had thankfully never had to personally experience the airline on an international route. However due to a personal emergency, I had to fly Air India recently since it was the only way I could get to Chicago in time. Air India has elevated the art of flying into a sublime torture on this 15.5 hour journey. The tortuous check-in process with agents taking upto 15-20 minutes to check-in a single passenger and the general chaos at the counter in Delhi was a precursor to the horrors which awaited me on board. The aircraft was run-down and shabby, which was the second warning but the best part was when I reached my seat, I had an exit row aisle right next to the bathroom which was so narrow that I could barely wedge myself in the seat with the the ancient inflight entertainment remote bulging out and pressing into my waist. Of course this fun was enhanced by the fact that in the entire economy section not more than 4-5 seats had a working IFE system the rest of us were entertained by staring at the Air India logo on the screen for 15 hours and they even gave us complimentary headsets so that we could enjoy the feel of the cheap headsets in our ears since the system was not working anyway, The seat itself had a worn out cushion and a weird back angle and barely usable headrests, I have never been happier to exit an aircraft just so that I never have to sit in this seat again. This was not the end of it of course, the airline decided that since the flight was scheduled at an ungodly hour of 2.45 am, it makes no sense to offer food to passengers who after traveling to the airport and spending an awesome time in check-in and immigration would just not be in the mood for sustenance so they dropped some chips and a packet of cheap biscuits on the seat and served breakfast only after 5-6 hours at least hunger made the awful food more edible. After this the crew decided to rest for 6-7 hours just handing out a cup of tea in between and while theoretically we could go to the galley to make our own tea/coffee they very considerately did not keep any cups or disposable paper cups to consume the said tea/coffee in. Perhaps a game of find the cup could entertain the passengers since the IFE could not. Finally a couple of hours before landing we were offered dinner which tasted slightly better than wet cardboard. The only redeeming factor on the flight was that Air India is surprisingly generous with alcohol and still offers good whisky and gin in good portion in economy but since this was only served to the end of the flight, it did not alleviate the misery in any way. The first thing I did after reaching my destination was to cancel my return ticket with them since there is no way I can put myself through such an experience again.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst flight I travelled ever. My flight was of 16 hrs non stop and the screen in front of me was not working at all I was not able to watch any safety protocols or see where the flight is currently, route, weather conditions. No entertainment on the 16 hrs flight. It felt like I was in a black hole or something like that. I requested the flight attendants to turn the screen on or change the seat if the screen is broken and they responded in humiliating and disrespectful way and did nothing. If the screen was not working why did you allotted the seat to me, it was very unfair with me.