Air India

DEL-LHR on Dreamliner. This was a good flight. Two full meals - a hot breakfast after take off and a full lunch service about 3 hours before arriving in London. The food was actually better in quality and quantity than on Lufthansa which I took last month where the lunch was little more than a snack. South Indian hot breakfast and western main lunch course were both delicious. Flat seats on Dreamliner very good and Caire amenity kits which have more goodies than European airlines. I feel that Air India are missing some details and professionalism to make them really world class. For example the movies are not the latest and the entertainment system not intuitive The chocolates after the meal are of mediocre quality the male cabin crews uniforms look dated but generally the long distance product is not bad. Modern aircraft good food polite service clean bathrooms. Only details to complain about.

LHR-DEL-LHR. Air India has improved which is not saying much. The staff are professional if not all that diligent. In business class they are pretty good if slow. The food is great but the red wine absolutely is not. Really awful. Champagne is good beer if fine. IFE is iffy but when it works they have a small selection of English films and lots of Bollywood. Seats are comfortable enough and lie flat. Amenity kits are a lottery. I suspect quartermasters are very rich at AI. Flights left on time. Overall not a terrible experience and as it is the cheapest way to travel J class to India fair value for money. A fair welcome to India.

Business class from Singapore to Paris via Delhi. I've had better economy seats than these business class seats from Singapore to Delhi. Exit row seats would have been better. Plus both my wife's and my video screens didn't work both ways. Half an hour after getting boarding passes plane took off late and we missed our connecting flight to Paris. They put us in hotel and that was it. No further communication or anything. Stuck in airport (smaller than domestic) for 24 hours. More employees than passengers walking around the terminal but nothing gets done. Make a request or ask a question and they smile and every answer is yes but nothing is ever done about it. Got on plane next day and delayed 90 minutes. Missed 26 hours of Paris to look at Delhi airport that has about 10-15 shops. No alcohol in the business lounge. The new Dreamliners from Delhi to Paris are the only redeeming feature. Never again.

Took AI-191/144 AMD-EWR-AMD and was pleasantly surprised. I flew Business and found the services from ground to destination impeccable. On return leg they allowed me to board just 4 minutes before their scheduled departure as my connection from St Paul was pathetically late. Cabin crew were excellent with good and tasty food with sufficient portions. The plane was spotless and during the long 14+ hour flight toilets were routinely cleaned and toiletries properly replenished. Also the IFE worked superbly with lot of options. I would definitely recommend AI although I agree there is huge room for improvement.

I have had a wonderful experience with Air India when I travelled on Delhi-Chicago. Although I was travelling Business it felt like travelling First Class. I appreciate the leg room which their seats provide. Food was very good with sufficient portions. Before travelling with AI I did heard a lot of noise about notorious Cabin crew of AI but my personal opinion is they are much better than Lufthansa United. For sure I would travel only AI now onwards.

SIN-DEL-CDG then CDG-DEL-MAA-SIN in July 2013 in business class. A319 SIN-DEL was 5/10 at best - old plane and unprofessional staff. B787 Dreamliner DEL-CDG (and return) - very professional staff 10/10. DEL-MAA - A320 - OK - 6/10. MAA-SIN No boarding pass from MAA-SIN and no visa for India meant we spent 60 minutes of stress in no-man's- land while an AI staff went to get us boarding passes and clear our luggage through Chennai customs. Chennai business lounge in old terminal was shocking. Wanted to charge for drinks after the first freebie. Eventually got away to SIN on an A330 which was ok - 6.5/10. Would recommend the 787s but not much else even though I got a bargain price in business class. Dreamilners were beautiful the rest was so so.

BOM-SIN. Very limited service in Business Class. Meal the same in Business as Economy. Staff mainly stayed in the front of the aircraft sitting behind a curtain. Very dated plane. Worst Business Class of any airline that I have flown on.

I am a regular traveler between DXB-MAA-DXB (AI 905/ AI 906). Flight was good. Average age of aircraft Airbus A321 is around 3-4 years. Seats are comfortable food is good. There is improvement on punctuality. Turnaround time at DXB is far better and quick. Inflight service is good and crew are efficient.

11 June 2013 from RUH-BOM-DEL (business class). Flight from Riyadh - check-in counter chaotic no separate counter for business class airport lounge was decent. Boarding was chaotic nothing special for business class. I actually felt I was treated as a premium economy passenger. Welcome drinks were served on the ground extremely small glasses terrible presentation. I did not feel I was flying business class the presentation was casual. However at the domestic terminal I had to wait 3 hrs for my DEL flight the lounge smelt television not working no air conditioning and no magazines or newspapers. Flight from BOM-DEL business class was great food was excellent great seat and service level was very high. Return DEL-BOM was economy class food and entertainment was great. Lounge in BOM international airport had good snacks but limited variety. Washrooms dirty. BOM-RUH business class only a regular meal served just before landing in Riyadh. I would not recommend this airline.

LHR-BOM-LHR. Check in at T3 was a little busy but it did not take too long to get airside. The lounge was OK although lacking a little atmosphere. Boarding was quite funny. When they announced that passengers with children plus first and business class passengers could start boarding about 300 people all got up and jammed the departure point! On board the crew were very efficient helpful and friendly. Very spacious seats although slightly uncomfortable when they are fully reclined. The quality of the food was excellent although the presentation could be improved a little. Although I did not pay for the ticket I was told it was well over half of the cost of travelling with BA and as such represents excellent value. Would definitely travel with Air India again.