Air India

Travelled Air India with my wife from London Heathrow to Sydney via Delhi on 16th November, and the service was appalling. The staff didn't seem at all interested and were quite untidy. What a difference on the next leg where staff were professional and we really enjoyed that part of the trip. On the basis of the flight London to Delhi, I would say don't use this airline but the second flight changed my thinking a little. I am now undecided and we'll wait and see what the return journey is like.

I wanted to visit Delhi and Goa and Air India fly direct from Birmingham, UK. We were 2 couples travelling together (total 4 people) I have never dealt with such a shoddy airline. I booked 3 flights from Birmingham to Goa via Delhi, and from Delhi to Birmingham. The flight times were changed twice prior to departure and changed 5 times after booking. The 5th time it changed it messed up my connecting flight home from Delhi to Birmingham. So I had to change the domestic flight to the day before and lose a day in Goa. . Once I had changed this flight to the day before I had an email saying this flight time had changed and then a few days later I got another email saying it had changed again. The plane was the oldest I've ever been on. 3 out of the 4 TVs in our seats were broken. AI113 flight time changed twice as well. Once the day before departure and once on the morning of departure. Luckily I was able to connect to wifi and see my emails as if I hadn’t I wouldn’t of found out about it.

I travel by Air India quite often, it has records for delay in flight always. But this time I had a bad experience and i have decided that I am never going to travel in Air India again. My flight was from Bangalore to Silchar via Guwahati. I was supposed to change my flight in Guwahati. But due to delay in flight as usual, it decided to go directly to Silchar without changing. Captain made an announcement about that. But as all know, maximum people usually don't hear the announcement with full concentration, I heard it but still to confirm about that I went to ask Air India staff, he just shouted like anything, saying "Can't you listen announcement has been made?", like me most of the passenger went to confirm about that, he shouted at everyone. I didn't like the behavior at all. I have traveled by other airlines also I didn't experience any such things. If you ask them they will reply in a good way. But this experience with Air India is horrible. They should know how to behave with passengers.

Twice in a row I had terrible experiences with Air India due to the airline's disorganization and inability to run their flights as scheduled. For my flight from Myanmar to Kolkata on Feb 27, the airline sent an email the afternoon of my evening flight saying the flight time had been moved up by two hours! I had to rush home from a goodbye lunch to pack and get to the airport quickly, and then the flight was delayed for 1.5 hours from the new time. The fact that Air India thinks it's okay to move up the flight time at the last minute is a sign of their general disregard for the customer. On my next flight from Delhi to New York, the airline canceled my night time direct flight and combined it with the 10:30 flight the next morning. I was already on my way to Delhi when I received a text about the change and had to scramble at the airport to get a last-minute hotel room in Delhi, which the airline did not compensate me for. The Air India web site still showed the original flight time and the Air India staff at Delhi took a while to search and confirm that the flight was indeed cancelled. A very poorly run airline.

Heathrow to Delhi with Air India was perfectly acceptable. This was a new 787 and consequently the seats were decent, legroom was better than average, and the entertainment screen was big and bright. Food was mixed - the main was excellent, the breakfast omelette was pretty grim. Several gin and tonics were provided. Biggest downside was the lack of film selection on the entertainment system - maybe they're concentrating on Bollywood, I don't know. I chose Air India based on price, and I would happily do so again.

My experience with this Air India flight was painful and I am not sure if they ever read this and change their process. I was travelling to Kolkata from New York via Delhi. I was supposed to take the next flight from Delhi to Kolkata, 2 hours after reaching Delhi. But I came to know in the last moment that I have to do the customs in Delhi, gather my baggage, re-check and submit my baggage for the flight to Kolkata, and then take the Kolkata flight. All of this in just 2 hours. But surprisingly, the other connecting flight which is after 5 hours wait time in Delhi, automatically checks the baggage (through check in) at Delhi, and we can get in Kolkata for baggage and Customs. Food and beverage service onboard was very poor. The overhead reading lamp does not work, and the staff was ill behaving when they see another customer requesting something.

Delhi to Heathrow on Air India. The food and beverage service on the flight was poor, with the selection of drinks being extremely limited. The cleanleness of the aircraft was good, however the side of my seat half of the plastic panel was missing. I discovered that the control for my seat did not work at all, resulting in me having and limited control of the entertainment system. The faulty control also resulted in me being unable to call for service or turn on the reading light. This was not limited to me, with multiple rows of seats experience the issue. Comfort was lacking as seats were extremely narrow. Overall the experience of our flight was poor.

Flew Air India from Lucknow to New Delhi on A321. Check-in bags have to be screened first before you can be processed at the airline check-in counter. Despite the fact that airline associate had just finished arguing with another passenger over baggage fees, he was very polite and professional while checking us in. The baggage fees have to be paid in another part of the airport, which is inconvenient for passengers. While on-board, I loved the colorful upholstery on the seats. The sandwiches provided by Air India were delicious.

The plane was new and the flight was comfortable, however several details were already broken like the reading lamps (at least mine). The staff very rude and the food was poor. The ground services and the customer service was the worst that I have seen.

Air India from Chicago to Delhi direct flight was the most horrible flight I have taken. Flight leaves and arrives on time. Cheapest and fastest flight to Delhi. Broken seats : almost 30% seats have some maintenance issues. Broken TV Screens. 90 mins after take-off from Chicago lunch will be served. After that no service at all for another 9 hours. If you ask you can get sandwiches from galley area, same thing applies to drinks. Some toilets are broken. Staff say since this is 15 hours flight they don't have enough storage for food supplies so they can not cater 3 meals or offer drinks (except orange juice in the galley. Flight info system was unavailable or switched off during entire flight. Announcement made by captain and crew during flight was not audible and not clear. Baggage delayed by more than 45 minutes.

I was unsure about flying with Air India and decided to buy the round trip from JFK to Delhi because it was convenient and the cheapest. I was pleasantly surprised with the business class seats. They gave a night suit in business class, and the service of air hostesses was a welcome change. The flight was comfortable.

Had a morning Air India flight from Chennai to Singapore with a connecting flight back to Melbourne the same day. Was worried about the connection as I was flying Air India, but was the cheapest ticket flying out of Chennai at that time and never flew on the Boeing 787 so decided to take the risk. Got to the airport three hours early but no one was servicing the Air India counter which really got me worried that the flight was delayed and I would miss my connecting flight. The check in counter finally opened 2 hours before the flight and was really slow, however they did manage to check everyone through and the flight did depart on time surprisingly. Flight was comfortable and impressed how clean the aircraft was and the crew were friendly and professional. IFE was average but easy to navigate. The meals were nothing to write home about, I had the veg option which was bland but they did have a non veg option as well. First time in a very long time flying Air India and would fly again.

Singapore to Delhi with Air India. Boeing 787 interior looks well-mantained. Meal was served shortly after takeoff. Special meals were pre-booked but was not delivered nor mentioned by the flight crew. Only water, coffee and tea were served and other beverages were only available on request. In-flight entertainment has limited choices but okay for a five hour flight.

Delhi to Srinagar via Jammu with Air India. Aircraft interior looks aged. Refreshments were served on the Delhi-Jammu flight sector with a choice of coffee or tea. Stopover at Jammu was quick and took-off on schedule. Not much interaction between the crew and the passengers was seen throughout the flight.

Air India are absolute hopeless. I was travelling Melbourne to Hyderabad via Delhi with my 4 month old son. We were told that the bassinet was confirmed at the time of booking the ticket, but did not get one and when I asked the flight attendant was very rude. Didn't even provide me with water for the baby food, I had to get water myself from the galley area every time. They absolutely don't care. The worst airline crew.

Pre flight was a bit of a concern as Air India retimed the flights at least six times based on the alerts I received despite the fact that the final time was exactly what I booked - they were late anyway! BOM-DEL on A321 was a pleasant surprise. Cabin welcoming but a bit battered, business class seat was OK for shorthaul. Breakfast was fantastic - cereal, croissants, fruit, hot main, choice of tea. Transfer at Delhi for the flight to Sydney was okay but could have been a lot better. Boeing 787 cabin colour scheme is a bit rich but a bit different and you could see the attempt at Indian influence. The seats convert to flatbed and best business class seat I have used. Service was fine - not refined but they provide pillows and blanket, pyjamas, great duvet, leather menu and landing card holder. Dinner service was great with choice of dessert, ice cream, chocolates, all delivered efficiently. Breakfast on the arrival to Australia was 'different' from a culinary point of view but very tasty. IFE was a bit limited but I use my iPad so not affected much.

I traveled to Hong Kong from Delhi with my family, there was a delay for 1.5 hours because some passengers from Mumbai had a connecting flight which was late, and therefore our flight was delayed. The cabin staff looked very casual and the food was not so good, and we didn't get any choice of meal in Business class. The return flight from Hong Kong was again on Boeing 787, but this time it was economy class. The seats were comfortable, but the staff service was really poor. I rang the service bell for several times but no one came to offer service. In the end I had to get up from my seat because I was really thirsty. Food on this flight was the worst I have had.

We flew Air India from Bangkok to Milan via New Delhi. Onboard the pilot informed passengers about a software problem, but didn't say anything about leaving the plane. 10 minutes after people in front of us were starting to get off the plane so we thought was a good idea to follow them. Once back on the gate we sat, and no communication had been made to the speaker from that moment on. To know what was going on you had to chase the ground staff around the gate. After 2 hours of waiting a snack had been provided, but still no communication through the speaker, we just realized seeing people walking around with food. 3 hours after the schedule departure time, passengers flying to Rome and Milan had been told to not worry because the connection flight in Delhi was waiting for us. Landed in Delhi we ran to get the connection flight, but it left already since one hour, and we’ve got told that the plane wasn’t waiting for us at all. At this point we’ve been told that we had to sleep in the airport hotel and wait for next day flight. We asked for a free wi-fi connection to advise home about the delay and this was denied. Flying on Monday instead of Sunday we didn’t have anyone available for a pick up from Milan to where we live. After discussing with the lady in charge, she granted us, as sign of apologize, that someone from Air India staff will be sent to Milan Airport to pick us up and give us a lift to our homes. We landed in time to Milan on Monday night, and nobody was there waiting for us. We’ve been left alone on Monday night at the airport with no train or buses to catch till the next morning. During the night at the Airport hotel we’ve been denied access to our hold luggage, so we didn’t have access to clean clothes and personal bath items. Landed in Milan the luggage was missing. Delays can happen, missing a connection can happen, but I cannot stand to be left at the airport during the night, without a taxi service which had been granted from Air India staff.

Air India was the worst airline I have ever flown. They cancelled our flights last minute. We had to cancel our forward flight as they changed the scheduled date. We had to go with another airline. Return flight was also cancelled last minute. They asked us to go with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then take Air India from there. We chose Air India because it was cheaper, but we should have stuck to our regular airline. One bag didn't arrive, after many phone calls it arrived after 3 day. No customer service at all. Lessons learnt.

Air India flight from New York JFK to Delhi was probably the worst flight that I have taken in my entire life. It started prior to taking off. We were on the runway for about an hour and a half with no announcement from anyone on when we would be taking off. The AC apparently broke down so it was hot and uncomfortable. Finally the captain made an announcement about the AC and that we would be going back to the gate to get the situation fixed. Another hour later we were finally at the gate. Instead of letting us get out of the plane, we remained seated until they "took care of the problem". After another 45 minutes we were ready to go. Once we took off, it took less than 3 hours for the TV's to shutdown in certain areas of the plane. Along with that, none of the power plugs were working. I decided to ask one of the flight attendants if they can somehow find an empty seat for me to at least charge my laptop (there were tons of empty seats at the back of the plane, where the flight attendants were lounging). Of course without even getting up, she concluded that there was not any place for me to charge my laptop. Besides all of this, The flight attendants left a cart of snacks and water unattended in a galley for the passengers to help themselves with. I have never seen this before. Passengers were all over, even with announcements to be seated. Flight attendants didn't bother checking for seats being upright and passengers being secured with belts. My food tray was broken. First and last time taking Air India!