Air India

Not Verified | I had very high hopes of a turn around for this airline but very disappointing experience to say the least. THE GOOD 1. Check in experience was pleasant throughout my trip 2. I was lucky my flight was on time THE TERRIBLE 1. Aircraft not clean, dirty toilets, tray table and stained seats 2. Entertainment system not working throughout the flight (10 hour flight) 3. Terrible food quality 4. No wifi and the plan interiors look run down 5. Inexperienced, young and rude staff 6. Severely damaged bags 7. No boarding groups, free for all first come first serve 8. Pushing, shoving included in the ticket price.

✅ Trip Verified | I didn't have a good experience with Air India (AI173). The seats were uncomfortable, and none of the screens worked so had no entertainment whatsoever in a 15 hours long flight. The customer service was terrible. When you ask for something from staff they won't ever come back to you. I had to go all the way back to get the water I asked for. The staff was very rude. I was given a link to review that didn't even work. Will never ever travel through this airline again.

Not Verified | I took a domestic flight from Agartala to Kolkata for my international travel the same day and I was solo travelling with a 15 month old baby. I was slightly worried or had my anticipations for how things will go. But the staff had done a marvellous job up make my trip as comfortable as it can get. Specially “Mr. Avishek Dhar” helped me a lot by managing my luggage to make it through travel till JFK so that I have a comfortable trip with the baby. Also baggage allowance for international flight was allowed in domestic flight according to Air India policy. All in all they have done a commendable job to make me go stress free the whole trip. This gives me reason enough to choose air India every time again in future and also let my friends and family know the best services are provided by Air India. Keep going !!Keep up the good work!

✅ Trip Verified | I had high hopes for a amazing flight experience, it was anything but that. I was very lucky my flight departed on time. Airport check in process was smooth. Entertainment system was not working. Toilets were very dirty. Food quality was bad. Choice of drinks were terrible. Overall, seats and trays were dirty. Inexperienced and young flight crew, spilled water and not even an apology. They lack the concept of hospitality

Not Verified | My experience with Air India was challenging due to the itinerary and service encountered during the journey. The flights had extended layovers – a 4-5 hour stopover in Delhi on the way to Hyderabad and an 11-hour stopover in Mumbai on the return journey to New Jersey. This lengthy wait was quite arduous and left a lasting impression. Regarding the in-flight service, it was satisfactory, although the food served from Mumbai to EWR lacked authenticity and didn't meet expectations. At Delhi airport, I was pleasantly surprised by its cleanliness and modern infrastructure. However, there was a noticeable struggle to maintain cleanliness due to some individuals littering, which affected the overall ambiance. On the other hand, Mumbai airport was extremely crowded, and I faced challenges with uncooperative staff. Despite my long-haul flight, 11-hour stopover, and having a sick child with me, both immigration officers and Air India staff were unhelpful and showed reluctance. Their lack of empathy was evident, with one supervisor even making a disparaging comment suggesting I 'try my luck' with immigration. This was a disappointing and rude response. I strongly urge Air India's customer-facing staff to undergo training in empathy and kindness. As a business class passenger, enduring an 11-hour layover with unhelpful staff was a significant inconvenience and a negative experience. I rate my experience a 2 out of 10 specifically due to the unhelpful and rude behavior encountered with Air India staff at Mumbai airport. Such attitudes are unacceptable when dealing with customers who expect better service standards.

✅ Trip Verified | I had taken the early morning flight from Bombay as I need to travel here and as I had booked the tickets quite early at a significant discount was hoping to get one of the better seats located in front of the aircraft. To my pleasant surprise I did manage to get an aisle seat located at the front which was good. Boarding was on time and for breakfast I had opted for the veg option which consisted of some stuffed parathas, chole, a croissant along with coffee. The crew were quite nice and soothing and the flight itself landed uneventfully without any issues at its destination.

Not Verified | My Mother passed away May 21, 2023. I booked an Air India flight to travel May 21, 2023 from SFO to COK to attend her funeral. My family scheduled her funeral accordingly so I could attend the funeral. I was supposed to land in Kerala May 23rd at 0700 a.m. in plenty of time to attend her funeral the same day at 3pm. My mother’s house is just 30 minutes from the airport, and I would have plenty of time to reach home a few hours before the funeral. But unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the funeral because the Air India flight was delayed at SFO for several hours causing me to miss the layover flight to go to Kerala. I explained my emergency to everyone who were responsible, but the Air India staff didn’t care about it and rescheduled a flight that wouldn’t reach Kerala until 7pm causing me to miss my mother’s funeral. It is important in my culture and religious belief to be present for the funeral and events following. How can I ever reconcile this situation in my life in my heart? The traumatic experience I had with flying Air India and missing of my mother’s funeral is still difficult to come to terms with. It took me a long time to even write my experience in this portal. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated example of poor service on this flight. On return to SFO the luggage was delayed 2.5 hours! We were given the reason for the delay as “there was no baggage workers to take the bags off the plain.” Not only was my time wasted but my transportation home was waiting for almost three hours. This is completely unacceptable. I have been a frequent international flyer for years, on many different airlines, and I was expecting a much better experience with Air India since TATA took over. Disappointedly, my experience was much worse than ever before. I was shocked to realize that Air India doesn’t have a suitable plan to deal with emergency situations like this. Air India will not be an airline of consideration for future travels because I don’t trust their reliability getting me to my destination for important life events. I feel like Air India doubled my traumatic experience, my mother passing compounded by not attending the funeral. This is a regret that I must live with for the rest of my life.

Not Verified | I will never ever fly again. My requests for special meals were deleted on the way there. Terrible staff. Smelling and dirty aircrafts. Very rude flight attendants. TVs during flight did not work at all on way there and back even after raising this to the crew. Just a terrible experience. Food is extremely spicy but with no taste. My gluten free food was not gluten free. I had terrible digestion problems as they broke my diet. Giving me a croissant when I am on gluten diet and then giving me a brownie which I thought was gluten free but it obviously wasnt due to my body reaction.

Not Verified | We recently flew with Air India and experienced excellent service like onboard WiFi, excellent legroom and seat comfort, great value for money, friendly crew, weather in cabin was cool and not throwing-up hot, ground staff were polite too, no inflight entertainment though, there was food. Will fly with them again!

✅ Trip Verified |   The flight departed on time and was comfortable. The cabin was full, I was looking forward to watching movies and catch up. However, my entertainment console was not working all the time. My chosen movie would start and then ten minutes later it would stop. After repeated attempts, I just gave up and tried to sleep. Air India disappoints on international routes

✅ Trip Verified | I had the pleasure of flying with Air India, and it was a delightful experience. The in-flight service was top-notch, with attentive attendants ensuring that every need was met promptly. Comfortable seating and ample legroom. The flights departed and arrived on schedule, and the journey felt well-coordinated. In conclusion, my experience with Air India was overwhelmingly positive. Gagandeep (Supervisor) and her team was extremely helpful. They made me feel like Lady Diana. I am grateful to them.

✅ Trip Verified | Pathetic airline. Ruining the image of the country. Looks like a government bus. Unkept, dirty seats, delays and what not. Horrible!

Not Verified | Check in was terrible. Took 45 minutes. Long queue of passenger carrying ridiculous amounts of luggage. One group stood in front of an agent for the full 45 minutes we were in the queue apparently waiting for resolution of their mountain of luggage. Leg room the worst I have ever seen for a medium length flight. Fortunately it was 1/3rd full so I could move to a seat with an empty seat next to me. No entertainment at all - 5.5 hours.

Not Verified | Casually denied my seat at the counter due to overbooking. Then manager, seeing I am a single lady flying tries to show his power and raise voice at me. Air India is pathetic. Such cruel customer services will not be accepted. They don't care about the customer, such an arrogant man thinks that just because he is sitting behind desk and has a mere ticket he can do anything say anything, black mail someone in any manner. Such behaviour will never be acceptable. I had a very humiliating experience with this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | I had booked initially on economy class for this flight but was able to upgrade to business as there were a couple of seats available which came at a fee and I really wanted to see how things have changed especially on the business class after the takeover so thought this was a good opportunity. There is a separate counter for business class passengers where the staff was able to courteously check in and provide the lounge access voucher as well. The flight was delayed as the incoming flight was delayed and the crew were able to proactively communicate this fact to the passengers including the arrival of the flight which was good. It seems that even though the seats are quite spacious, this airbus 321 was also showing its signs of ageing as well. The seat also had newspapers / magazines which once could read but there was definitely an upgrade of the soft aspects of the product. On board the crew were welcoming and as a welcome drink there was a choice between buttermilk and coconut water and they have had also given hot towels which was very greatly appreciated as they are quite valuable which was not given before. Also there were menu cards distributed for the dinner option before take off as the crew noted down the orders. Previously the meals options used to be on laminated cards. I had opted for the fish curry with okra and that was quite a good and filling option along with a chocolate mousse cake for dessert. Unfortunately due to turbulence the crew were unable to do the beverage service which was good. Baggage retrieval was also swift. Overall I feel that the soft product was markedly improved from the last time I flew them in J class including the hot towels and menu cards with greater options but with the induction of new aircraft and refurbishment of cabin interiors I am quite optimistic that the business class product could get even better in the future. Only issue was the delay but that was due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft.

✅ Trip Verified | Rubbish airline, the worst I’ve travelled. Infotainment systems don’t work, when you tell the staff about it, they reply “yes we know” . Staff call button is useless, because staff switch it off from their controlled device without attending to check on what you require. Ground Air India staff are the useless and it’s as good as talking to a robot! They’re slow and really unhelpful! Never ever fly this airline, And I’m surprised they’re part of the Star Alliance.

Not Verified | My Lufthansa flight was cancelled and I was on rebooked on an Air India flight 119 on Oct 24 2023 from Mumbai to New York. The aircraft's TV was not working. Reading light not working and there was no hand soap in the toilet. I spend the 15 cruel hours looking at the blank TV. There was no way to charge my cell phone. So I could not use my cell phone to pass the time. My experience was horrible and I never expected or experienced such a difficult flight situation. We paid a lot of money to book a ticket for an international flight. I feel Air India should look into this matter and rectify all the short comings of the aircraft.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst experience ever. Staff don't even come to serve water. I pressed for assistance many time and every time they were resetting it. I was travelling with my two kids 5 years and 1 year. When my boy was literally crying for water then we had to share three sips of water among us which is totally unacceptable. Moreover the cleanliness omg. Toilets were so disgusting they didn't even bother to spray the room freshener and our 12 hour 20 min flight was such a nightmare. Moreover, staff didn't even bother to help when I asked her if she can help me putting belt on my baby. She said the other hostess will come but no on came. They were so uninterested in helping like they were doing big favor on for being onboard. I will make sure none of know book this flight ever again. Tv's were not working either. Worst experience ever it was like a never ending nightmare.

Not Verified | I had a connecting international flight from Delhi. Airline changed my flight that was not acceptable to me as I would lose my connection. Airline refused to give me alternate flight and said I have to pay extra for flight change. I did not change. They changed my flight. In the end I was just refunded taxes. Air India did not refund my ticket.

✅ Trip Verified | We flew business class from Newark to Bombay the comfort, the legroom, and the cleanliness was unspeakable. However, the food I was very highly dissatisfied with. They started our journey with cold baba ghanouj, and cold hummus with hard bread. That as a starter no one seemed to enjoy. Out of the Asian elders did not even know what baba ghanouj was. An elder couple behind me asked them to help me with their order as they were wanted veg only. I was happy to help. For the main course, it was an option between paneer or millet steak (vegetarian). As the air hostess was coming around to take our order, she tried to convince me and my family to order the millet steak saying it’s very good. I told her I would not like that, and I wanted the paneer. After two mins she came to inform us they all are out of panner and the rest of us will get millet steak. I was seating in seat number 9; I couldn’t imagine why we paid so much more for business class; when we didn’t even have a choice what we want as a main meal. The millet steak was so disgusting. Everyone behind me and towards the back of business class was upset. Finally towards our landing, we were served frozen chat and a “veg grilled sandwich” which was in fact only bread and cold squash in it. It was making me vomiting because it was so bitter and tasted slimy and tasteless. The whole food experience was disgusting.