Air India

Chennai-Dubai and Dubai-Mumbai a couple of months ago. Old A-321 aircraft with faded seats and no inflight entertainment system. Surly cabin crew who had a feeling that they were doing a favor to passengers. On the Chennai-Dubai sector the passenger sitting in front of me asked for an extra can of beer during dinner only to be roughly ticked off by the cabin crew. The reason given was that they only serve one can of beer per passenger. I have flown hundreds of miles on various airlines but this is the first time that I am hearing such a ridiculous explanation. With this kind of flight experience it is no wonder that most of the traffic on the Gulf routes from India deviates towards the Middle Eastern carriers.

Flew Chennai-Mumbai. Aircraft was an old A-319 still sporting the old Indian colors. Faded but clean interiors. Energetic cabin crew. Hot meal served on board. They ran out non-veg selection after a while and when queried by one of the passengers the answer given was that they had loaded more veg meals with the assumption that not many people would take non-veg on a Thu. Overall Air India is a cheap option to fly from point to point if one is not bothered about in-flight service and entertainment.

LHR to SYD via Delhi. Three legs in 687 and final leg in 777. Generally satisfactory but much room for improvement. Lie flat seats on all flights. Cabin crew good. All flights late on take off and landing which seems common with AI. Catering standards poor compared with competitors and lacks consistency. Overall flights satisfactory given the low price but AI need to improve to compare with better airlines.

LHR to Melbourne via Delhi. Flights were on time. Comfortable flat beds and attentive service especially on the Delhi to Melbourne leg (crew were a bit less energetic on the first leg). Food was fine. I liked the rather retro cocktail trolley before dinner. Air India is not up there with the very best and there are far fewer frills (no real amenity kit at all and food presentation isn't so polished). But the fare was also a lot less I had a flat bed all the way to Australia and the crew on the second leg were really trying hard and were very sweet. I have no complaints.

Flew AI 381 (787 Dreamliner) SIN - DEL on 25 Dec 14 the brand new dreamliner was excellent with flat bed seats crew were polite and attentive breakfast served on board was excellent. Air India should enhance their inflight entertainment system with more options of latest movies in it I would definitely recommend and use Air India again in future.

Flight 8763 27th December. Flew Munich-Delhi in December in a Dreamliner. Pleasantly surprised with the quality of AI. Very efficient staff and overall quality for money.

AI143 from CDG to DEL. Departure on time. 787 service with IFE in economy although with limited choice. Choice of 3 entrees (Fish Chicken Vegetarian). Nice and very efficient cabin crew. Overall a good night flight.

Flew DEL-BOM-GOI-MAA-DEL on 4th and 8th January 2015. DEL-BOM-GOI was the best of the lot with great food and on- time performance. Return journey was pretty pathetic as our flight from GOI got delayed due to "technical" failures which the check-in personnel were reluctant to tell about. Missed our return connection from MAA in the morning but the airline was kind enough to rebook us in an evening flight and gave vouchers for lunch given by some cold faces in the airport. MAA-DEL was delayed due to weather in DEL. The only flipside in all the three journeys was the basic IFE and some tasteless food in GOI-MAA and MAA-DEL flights. Crews were decent and had served with smile though.

AI 675 Mumbai - Kolkata on 17th January 2015. The aircraft an A320 was in excellent condition. It was spotless and the seats were very clean and so was the entire cabin. The crew were excellent always smiling and helping the guests. The seats provided extreme comfort with ample leg space. The only suggestion that comes to my mind is AI should make sure that they change the menu because the last time I flew AI 675 in Nov' 2014 the same breakfast was served (Non Veg). The flight was extremely comfortable. The return leg was on 23rd January 2015 (AI 775). The flight was delayed by about 90 minutes however I have no complaints because AI kept informing me through regular calls and texts about the exact status. The aircraft used in this leg was an old A319. The seats were torn and in some cases even the back rest was not upto the mark. I don't understand if AI can use their 787s in other domestic routes why not in the BOM-CCU sector? If not then why can't the A319s be replaced with the A320s which provide much better comfort. This is just a suggestion as I love flying AI. I would also like to appreciate the fact that in spite of the flight being delayed by 0 minutes we were served dinner on board. The dinner was excellent. Last but not the least I'd like to request AI to please reintroduce the entertainment system for the domestic sectors also so that we can enjoy the flight even more.

AI607 Mumbai-Bangalore on January 3rd. Flight was delayed but not so much by Indian standards. Plane was very very old. It felt like going back in time with some seats requiring quick repair before take off. Flight was a little unpleasant also because of the strong turbulence and a bunch of young crying kids. FA's were a little rude at times but always available. One very good thing is that a proper meal is served in a flight that is just over an hour long. While not my favorite I would still use them for flights within India in the future.