Air India

Air India (AI130) from Heathrow to Goa via a stopover to Mumbai and returned 2 weeks later (AI131). All flights departed on time. The seats could have been more comfortable but a cushion between the back and the seat took care of that. The bottom line is that the flights were at least £150 cheaper than the nearest rival and so if considered as a budget airline (the long haul Easyjet) I have no real complaints. My main gripe was the attitude of the cabin crew. They were really quite unfriendly smiles never quite made it to eyes - when I was up stretching my legs during the flight I was asked quite abruptly 'where are you going'? However on the whole a reasonably good experience and I'd fly with them again.

LHR-BOM-DEL-LHR. Business. Outbound 777-300ER. Standard business class "flat" seats that go to about 175 degrees. Two meal choices an Indian and Western. Fairly standard meal on china but no better than a "good" economy meal. No amenity kit but they did supply flight socks and eye masks. Cabin crew helpful. On return lounge in Delhi pleasant but has no WiFi of its own- airport shared wireless is not free. Return flight on 777-200LR (replacement while 787 grounded). No flight socks or eye masks loaded on board - annoying as this was a night flight. Cabin attendants sympathetic and brought what looked like a duvet from first to make up for this. Inflight entertainment is comprehensive. Map not working on return leg. Priority bag service worked both ends and in Mumbai someone has pulled off all the priority bags from carousel so there were there just ready to take. Overall it's good value if your expectations are a lie-flat seat and standard food.

Flew from RUH to CCJ (B777-300ER) in economy class. Flight was on time. Check in was chaotic and ground staff were rude. Flight interiors were clean and looked colourful. Seat configuration of 3-3-3 which I liked. Flight attendants were young polite and happy to help. Entertainment system worked well and had an excellent collection of new English and Hindi movies. Food was very delicious. Overall experience was excellent. Would fly again with Air India.

Flew domestic IXL-DEL in a brand-new A319. Boarding chaotic 2 flights boarded from one gate. Apart from that service was excellent. Especially food was delicious - you do not get that kind of food even on short- haul business flights in Europe. Personal IFE even though some of the screens seemed to work better than others.

LHR-DEL-ATQ. Main flight from London to Delhi was horrible plane had worn carpets and out of date seats most airlines now have better leg room and inflight entertainment. Food was minuscule portions and unrecognisable. Would not bother flying them in the future.

FRA-DEL-KTM-DEL-FRA B777-300ER. We travelled with our one year old child in her own seat. Although we made already arrangements nobody seemed to be aware that we were flying with a child (chosen seats next to each other not available no baby meal on board). Our buggy ended up on the belt in Delhi while we were in transit. Took us 90 minutes and a lot of frustration to find someone who could take the thing off and hand it over to us. Because of delay and short connection time the transit through the DEL airport was awful. Crew just dropped us of at the security check in the transit area and left us there. So collecting the transit passengers made no sense at all. The plane (B777-300ER ) was worn out and looked very tired. Our seats were very hard and uncomfortable. Meals were tasty but portions limited. No bread served. Only after take off a round with drinks was served. Once they served the food the crew disappeared and never came around again. IFE system limited with a small option of (nice) English movies. It got us there and it got us back home. But next time we will choose a company from the gulf-area again.

Connected from Finnair to Air India DEL-BOM-GOI on A321 returned the next week GOI-BOM-DEL on a similar A321. Air India uses T3 at Delhi which is very convenient and their baggage allowance is very generous compared to other Indian carriers. Wanted to try their Business Class and paid extra for the luxury on the DEL-BOM-GOI sector: very pleasant and very good service with tasty meals. On the way back it was Economy and cannot fault their service here either because the legroom was good IFE worked well and their catering was adequate. The dinner on the BOM-DEL sector was actually very good in Economy. This is not the Air India I remember from years back they have improved considerably and seem to have added many new planes in their fleet lately. Moreover the fact that they use T3 at Delhi Airport is a great advantage smooth connections.

Flew AI in November 2012 LHR-DEL-CCU return (AI112 A20 AI21 AI111). Check in swift generous baggage allowance. Flight was an hour late hence didn't cause much of a stir. In-flight decor seating etc.- appalling! Torn carpets and upholstery tired interiors poor lighting creaky and cramped seats poor back support made for a low comfort ride. Ground staff and in-flight staff - were excellent. Inflight entertainment: fair with a bias towards Indian programmes. Meals provided on LHR-DEL could certainly do with improvement arrived in sterile plastic containers cold not fresh. It certainly did not qualify as a wholesome 'Indian treat'. In contrast meals served on DEL-CCU-DEL-LHR were fresh full of flavour. Baggage handling: can do with improvement. Overall they did a good job with honest pricing of tickets and generous baggage allowances with room for improvement in some departments.

MAA-CMB-MAA. Check in was by Air India Staff and was good. Flight was on time. Buses were new and good AC. Ground staff at boarding were rude. Flight Interiors were dirty and shabby. It needed a through cleaning. Seats were old and worn. Flight attendants were OK. Food was nice enough for the money I paid and an 1 hr flight. Overall value for money. Cleanliness could be improved.

LHR-BOM-LHR return Boeing 777-300ER. Our seats were comfortable inflight entertainment was good with variety of games and Hindi and English movies. Check in at Heathrow was quick and at Mumbai airport. Tip - always check in online for both legs which saves a lot of time and ensure you don't exceed allowances. Food was good but once crew served the food and collected the rubbish after meals they disappeared and never came to serve and drinks or walk around on plane - nor attended to crew attention buttons when pressed.

FRA-DEL-COK return. Check-in at Frankfurt had a long line which moved quickly. Boeing 787 replaced by B777-300ER food was good IFE had a very limited choice of movies. Crew was neither friendly nor rude. Bag delivery in DEL took quite a while. DEL to COK was on-schedule. The seats were uncomfortable as you could feel the metal in your back. When flying to India from Germany the Middle East airlines are definitely a better choice. Air India had the best flight times the price was okay.

My wife and I flew non-stop from Chicago to Delhi. Left on January 22 and returned on January 30 on Boeing 777-300ER. Our seats were very hard and uncomfortable my backrest evidently lost it's memory and refused to stay in the upright position front seat pocket was partially glued together with a disgustingly big wad of chewing gum the inner plastic window insert kept rattling in unison with the jet engines. Coffee was the absolute worse I have tasted flight staff were good. It got us there and it got us back home.

BOM-DXB-BOM Airbus 320 both ways with 3x3 configuration. Contrary to previous reviews I really like this product. The leg space was superb outbound flight left on time food adequate and filling. IFE selection was limited. FAs were nice and helpful. Inbound flight was redeye. Delayed by 1 hr and reached BOM late. Again food was delicious and same IFE with same movies. Check in smooth in DXB but in BOM a bad experience. I was travelling with my parents and unfortunately even after repeated requests we were given seats separately. All in all a good airline with comfy seats and good onboard service and cheaper than other airlines.

Great travel experience I had back in Aug 2011 on Air India was the reason to choose this airline for my 2012 travel. The transit/immigration through the new DEL airport was smooth. AI faced major delays on my return leg due to computer error at DEL and I ended up spending my time enjoying the new DEL T-3. The cabin crew kept an astounding service quality before the aggressive demanding passengers on board which made the journey memorable. Flaws occur but its very good to see AI is keeping up its pace to superior service quality.

23 December from LHR to Mumbai on the dreamliner. Plane itself was nice and the food and entertainment was fine although not much in the way of films/games for children. Luckily we had done online check-in for the connecting flight to Delhi as well. I handed in my luggage at the international terminal in Mumbai but this was not on the flight. After numerous telephone calls the luggage arrived on 26. Flight from Delhi to Chandigarh took off despite the pilot telling us there would be little chance of the fog clearing which meant that we circled above Chandigarh 4 times before returning to Delhi. Chaos on arrival and were it not for 2 helpful passengers things could have been a nightmare as no onward transport had been planned. It eventually left in the form of a coach 2-3 hrs later. For international flights AI is good but for domestic flights it is chaotic and staff are very unorganised. I would avoid Delhi airport if possible.

MAA-BOM-EWR on 22nd July. While checking in at Chennai was told I was checked through all the way to Newark. Chennai to Mumbai delayed an hour - reached Mumbai close to midnight - still had an hour to catch the flight to Newark - mysteriously without any reason baggage was offloaded at Mumbai had to go through security again at the domestic airport waited for an hour for a bus to take us to the international airport to be told that we had missed our flight. Air India staff were extremely rude and they had no intention of getting us on another airplane. After a lot of arguments I was put on a flight to London and then on to Newark - lost a whole day. My first trip on Air India to the US and will be the last.

Business class from LHR to DEL Dec 2012 return. No complaints - all staff and crew were helpful. Plane was a new 777 and seats were very comfortable with a lot of legroom. The inflight entertainment had a good choice of English and Indian films. My only gripe is the lack of an Air India lounge for Business Class passengers at IGI airport in Delhi. It's unacceptable to send your premium passengers to a regular cafe with poor quality food and no WiFi where the staff are trying to charge you for anything they can get away with. Please Air India stop using Cafes at IGI and get yourselves a proper business class lounge with WiFi decent food and drink.

Flew from Jodhpur to Mumbai on AI 475 (A319-VT-SCI). Flight delayed 1.5 hours and were informed by a call and an SMS after reaching Jodhpur airport. Light snacks served on board and the aircraft had a functioning IFE. Minus the 1.5 hour delay the flight was okay.

Business class from Singapore to Delhi on an A319 and it's was fairly basic. The seats are old and not that comfortable - leg room is ok though. Service from the cabin crew - nothing to get excited about either. They were quite stoic did their basic job and then sat (slept) on the forward jumpseat the rest of the flight. There was a breakfast service (the food was not bad) but they never came through an offered anything else - - nothing. The economy class had a second beverage service - but if you wanted something extra in business class - you had to ring your call button and then they would reluctantly come out of the galley. The inflight entertainment is very basic too - all Indian movies.

We flew LHR to Mumbai and on to Goa and return via Delhi. Flights were cheap and therefore I agree that they were value for money. Most of the inflight entertainment didn't seem to work across the cabin or the films packed up. The seats were possibly the most uncomfortable I have encountered they were narrow and the cushions non existent and the toilets smelt. The crew were friendly and attentive on the way out but appeared infrequently on the way back. Food on both flights was horrible. I wish we had paid more and gone with another carrier.