Air India

Flew from Chicago to Delhi the leg room in the airplane was good but its a poorly maintained aircraft. The entire plane was dirty. One of the toilets were not working. The snacks were not served you had to walk to the back of the aircraft to find a sandwich and a drink. Horrible experience.

Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi. Delhi-Kolkata (CCU) on Airbus A321. Kolkata-Delhi on Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Both flights were on time and aircraft's were considerably clean. Check in (both times) took hardly 5 minutes. IFE on A321 was not good but B787 had great collection of movies and music however most of earphones provided were broken (carry your own earphone). Food was a complete let down on both flights and staff did little to make your journey better. Overall for 2 hour flights Air India is a good option given its price. Also Air India and Jet Airways operate from Terminal 3 in Delhi which makes airport experience slightly better than other domestic airlines.

EWR-BOM-AMD. Flight was supposed to depart on 3 July 2014 I flew on 5th July. Everything went well until take off there was a problem with the air-conditioning which was not resolved at all. After 4.5 hours we were told to get off the plane. After getting our baggage we were told to stand in a queue for 40 mins to get hotel vouchers and after getting the voucher I was waited for the hotel transportation for 3 hours. We were 54 passengers and there was only 1 bus which could carry 34 passengers. Back to the airport for 11 am next day told to stand in line for another flight which was at 4 pm on 4 July 2014. After standing in line for 4 hours I was told the flight was full and another was scheduled for 8. Boarded the flight and after 2 hrs we were told that there was problem with the engine and it took them another 4 hours to decide that we had to get off the plane again another motel was given. Spoke to a manager of Air India and they got me on 5th July's AI 190 EWR-BOM-AMD flight. Finally on 5th July I arrived home 72 hours late. I have decided not to fly Air India in the future.

Avoid at all costs! Terrible experience with Air India. They ran out of non veg meals On my flight from Chicago to Delhi and then again from Delhi to Cochin. On the return trip the Cochin to Mumbai flight was delayed 2 hours causing us to miss the Mumbai to Newark flight. Waited in Mumbai for over 3 hours while their clueless officials tried to get us back to Toronto somehow. After telling us of a few possible flights for the next day even coming close to booking us they finally found a flight via Istanbul. No upgrades of any sort not even an apology. Never again will I travel with Air India!

We flew JFK-DEL-JFK in May 2014 with a 10 month old infant. Partial journey from JFK to DEL was ok however on DEL-JFK route AI ground staff were horrible. Although an infant bassinet was requested from the get-go and we were at the terminal 3 hours before boarding staff at DEL Airport were rude and flatly answered no bassinets available. On duty staff didn't know who to escalate issue to find out an answer they directed us from counter to counter. 90 minutes trying to get a bassinet with no success. Surprisingly when we entered the plane and found that there were 8 bassinet locations and only 2 bassinets were hooked up and remaining bassinet assigned seats were allotted to regular people families with no kids. We were shocked and asked a few people occupying those seats to exchange with us but no one would. We had a hard time travelling for those 15 hours with our infant child. We found at least 2 other kids facing the similar dilemma and going through the sufferings due to incompetent ground staff.

Flying Air India with my 82 year old mother and 13 year old daughter was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. Although I had confirmed seats at JFK I was told that the plane only had the capacity to take 200 out of the 380 passengers. After complete chaos and AI employees who had no clue on how to control the crowd or make a decision we were that night put on a flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines and from there to Bombay with the promise that Air India representative would meet us at the gate in Bombay and help me with claiming my luggage since it was left in New York with Air India transportation to the domestic airport and tickets to my final destination. No one met me at Bombay but the worst part was they refused to provide any assistance. The supervisor at the baggage claim told me in no uncertain terms "we will not help you." I had to file a claim for my luggage with Turkish although I never checked my luggage with them. We were so distressed and tired but not one Air India representative showed any concern and they refused to let us in the shuttle to domestic airport. The Air India representative at the transit gate told me that I could spend the entire day trying to talk to someone high up in AI or get a taxi to the domestic airport. I reached Bombay at 4.30 am and finally got the evening flight to Kochi which then was turned around half way and returned to Bombay for technical reasons. The funny thing is no one in India seemed very surprised at our experience flying with Air India. Customer service seems to be the last thing on the minds with Air India. My mother still has not recuperated from her travel and I am never traveling Air India again.

Flew the Dreamliner from Singapore to Frankfurt via Delhi. They had their new (plated) catering on board but still the choice and quality disappointing and the service average which is a shame as Indian food can be outstanding even the curry option was very disappointing. The cabin crew in business on whole do not seem comfortable or confident and are usually older. I mention the age issue only because I think that they have been used to a different type of service which no longer is the standard for business class. I appears that the business cabin crew are chosen on seniority and Air India needs to change this and use younger crew who can bring a new attitude and freshness to the service. Having said that the seat for sleeping was excellent with nice large pillows and good quality cotton quilts. The Dreamliner definitely delivers a much better cabin comfort and had a major affect on jet lag. We had 1.5 hr scheduled transit in Delhi which was a worry we ended up with 60 mins to complete the transfer which we did ok as we had already been issued boarding passes in Singapore. Having said that value for money is excellent. I know many have disliked the decor and I have to agree that it doesn't come up to Cathay's but its ok. If they can just up their game with cabin crew and food Air India could become a great airline.

MEL-LHR-MEL in June. Aircraft: Very impressed with the 787 (Dreamliner) - leg room and the seat pitch is very good and comfortable the cabin environment is nice. Food: curry was the only option and catered for Indian passengers. Very limited option (no alternatives). No child's meal provided requested at the time of booking and it was not available (so if you are travelling with children please take your own food). Refreshments only served with meals not provided in any other times considering the long flights on all the sector. Entertainment: Is mainly aimed at Indian audiences very limited entertainment and games for kids (suggest taking a tablet/DS loaded with your favourite movies or games to keep them occupied). The senior management need more focus to improve the standard and efficiency as Air India has joined star alliance they need to improve on following to be par with other major airlines and to attract more passengers with different nationalities. Cabin crew must improve their customer service. More variety of food option for all ages especially for children. Refreshments are served on regular basis on long flights. Noted that toilets are not cleaned during the long flight and some are unusable due to cleanliness. It appears that cabin crews not checking are more interested in resting in their pods for majority of the flights. Improvement on on-time performance as our both outbound and inbound flights are delayed. Surely would like to fly once again and hope the service will improve with joining with star alliance and management focus to turnaround the airline.

My husband and I took Air India from Kolkata to Singapore. Our domestic flight was good but the international flight was horrible. We were given different seats no blankets were provided and the food was cold and very small in quantity. Even the inflight entertainment was zero as nothing was working in order. Whole journey we suffered a lot.

Delhi-Mumbai-Jamnagar and back during Jun 2014. Poor Management. The seats booked online are often changed without any information and family members are split up. Non-Veg food finishes within first 2-3 rows (either side). Food quality is poor. Inflight entertainment system does not work.