Air India

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!

I was not satisfied with Air India cabin crew who were unprofessional. I sat next to emergency exit door and nobody explained emergency escape procedures to me, and I pressed service light but no cabin crew answer for a long time until I walked to galley. I cannot understand why they don't serve a drink when they serviced meals. The IFE didn't have many choices. But the cost of Air India ticket was cheaper than other Star Alliance airlines and I can accumulate miles. I will choose Asiana Airlines next time if their cost is not expensive.

London Heathrow to Bangalore return with Air India. I ordered continental vegetarian and non continental vegetarian for my son - they gave me Hindu meals, which I could not eat due to spicy. I told them in the airport at Bangalore long before return journey, but they still served the wrong order. The staff onboard were unconcerned. A male staff gave me a meat meal, and said just leave the meat. Next the gave me Chinese, plain insipid noodles. The cabin staff on outgoing journey were attentive, but not on return journey. Air India needs to be more accommodating to non Hindus as regards food and Western music.

Air India got me to Chicago from Delhi on time but that's pretty much the good part. They messed up seat allocation, and chaos at checkin. Unnecessary airline security checks again after the airport security check. In cabin service was pretty poor - no enforcement of cabin safety during takeoff and landing, and the meal time management and keeping the lights in accordance with time zone of destination was terrible. They serve a snack at 3am Delhi time, a breakfast 5 hours later when it's really dinner time in Chicago and then a lunch before landing at 5am Chicago time. The lunch was the only liquor service - 2 hours before landing at 7 am! The overhead reading lights did not work nor did the flight maps/camera. IFE very sluggish and oversensitive. Toilets became a mess mid flight. Avoid if you can fly another airline.

Newark to Mumbai return, and very disappointing flights. Airplane old, entertainment is old, antiquated and in the case of mine and my son's seat, simply not working. Non-working entertainment for a 16-hour flight. After taking off and drink/food service, the cabin crew effectively vanished for 8 hours! Not one member to be seen walking the aisles, checking on their passengers, picking up the trash in the aisles. Food was hastily shoved onto our trays : over-heated and nondescript. Confirmed Jain meal for my wife 3 times, but still not available once flight took off. Neat trick : Cabin crew says "sorry" - and they're immediately off the hook in terms of responsibility. Say you're sorry and the case is closed, whether you like it or not. Was not able to re-confirm my return trip with them without the intervention of a local travel agent.

Delhi to Mumbai with Air India. Check-in Experience was smooth since I arrived early for check-in of an early morning flight. Most of the counters were unmanned but there were very few travelers waiting to be checked in. Boarding smooth because of light load on the flight, but staff seemed to be more interested in their own gossips. Onboard, a warm welcome by senior staff. Could not fault their service. Landing was smooth but a long taxi to reach the new terminal and further delay due to remote stand and heavy rains meant that it took 40 min to enter the terminal after landing. Baggage delivery was slow and disorganized. Took 1 hour for first bag to be delivered after landing. Staff were nowhere to be found to give any updates. Not so happy ending to otherwise good experience.