[v1kram]

My recent experience was fairly good, first time in Air India.

Vancouver -> Delhi : Aircraft was old but decently maintained, only gripe was non functional touch screens (many). Good leg space helped us to sail through 14 hours journey. Crew were very attentive and the food was good. Arrived an hour early.

Delhi -> Coimbatore via Chennai: No complaints, good leg space, arrived 15 minutes early.

Return journey was equally good except for the cabin crew in Delhi -> Vancouver flight, could have been more attentive, they looked tired within the first half of the trip.

Will definitely travel again in AI.

[UD17]

Well Post Tata take over, I travelled first time through Air India Business class from Delhi to Toronto (14 hour direct flight). The experience was much better as compared to pre-Tata period. All the Cabin crew were young, which also resulted in prompt services with smiles all over.

Although in my section, out of 14 seats only 4 were occupied so cabin crew members had a wonderful time. More so that all four of us were not demanding at all and most of the time underwent sleeping.

No frills, aged well known cabin, yet quite clean. All the items are more functional than aesthetical. I just had lunch during the whole flight which was Okayish. Soup was superb.

This is how I found the seat after entering the aircraft.



Deserted business class cabin:


Juice served at the very start, some haldiram stuff was already placed in the seat:



Under thigh support was nice (pun intended):


Some as usual pockets to keep stuff:


The seat adjustment console, many degree of freedom and its easy to experiment and find the comfortable position (another pun).


A perfect flat bed for a cozy sleep:


A very strange route was taken. I guess its to avoid Pakistan's air space.


The ambient lights were quite smooth. The cabin crew did not disturb when I was sleeping. But they were quite considerate in asking for our request, whenever they find opportunity. Some goodies are also offered as usual, which includes changing clothes, sleepers, head phone, pen, some toiletries etc.



Cozy Bed:


Overall the service side has certainly improved with young staff and all have smiling faces. The cabin crew was fortunate that our section does not have too many guests, they were quite relaxed, although the economy section was full. The flight was uneventful and was on schedule. The luggage was quick to arrive, the emigration was automated at Toronto (Took just 10 minutes to come out of airport)

[GTE]

The cabin crew have improved a bit, but overall they have a lot of catching up to do. On a flight back from Singapore the air conditioning did not work for more than half the flight. There was no announcement or apology from the captain. For my next trip I flew with Singapore airlines, what a difference!

[SR-71]

Another day another disturbing event that shows the continued lack of proper training among the AI crew. If all the information alleged in the article is true, its quiet disturbing to see the inefficiency of their crew after all these months and some recent bad experiences by passengers in the international routes that grabbed a lot of headlines.

The passenger, travelling from New Delhi to San Fransisco, met with a horrible incident after a crew spilled hot water on her and left unattended. She found herself in an afflicting situation when she felt excruciating pain after hot water being spilled on her right leg. “To my shock, the crew members initially ran away from the situation.”

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...907875285.html

[RaghuVis]

Air India crew are in for a bollywood makeover!

A good move I would hope!

[barcalad]

A few days back, I chose them to fly with after a long hiatus. A 2 hour 20 minute flight. Check in was smooth and prompt as there was barely any queue.

Boarding was on time. The aircraft was an A321 that was shiny clean. I had booked myself on the first row of Economy for extra leg room against the bulkhead.

The nice -
1. Efficient ground staff. On time departure.
2. Aircraft was clean and the seats/windows had no smears.
3. The first row leg space was a lot more than the equivalent in low cost carriers. A boon for tall folks like me.
4. The seat was wider and comfortable in spite of the arm rest tray table as compared to other carriers.
5. Landed 20 minutes before time.

The not so nice -
1. The cabin crew seemed lackadaisical. They didn't seem to be paying attention to the passengers.
2. Only tea or coffee as the beverage options - with a take it or leave it attitude. Food was average.
3. The landing was terrible. The aircraft veered a bit to the right after rear gear touchdown (possibly due to crosswinds) and that evoked a gasp or two from some folks.
4. Although the flight was 20 minutes early, the baggage took another 15-20 minutes to arrive after a casual stroll towards the conveyor belt.
5. No In-Flight Entertainment system.

I feel they're trying, alright. As a corporation, it is tedious to get rid of a pre-fixed image that too when hundreds of employees are involved. A lot of areas need thorough work - especially the cabin experience. Will give it some time before I consider them as my first option to fly with.

[arjithin]

Does AirIndia provide transit accomodation in Delhi if the transit (International & inbound travel) is 13 hrs ( full night) ??

If not what is a good option to book night stay close to T3 (outbound flight at 5AM) ?

[chinkara]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Does AirIndia provide transit accomodation in Delhi if the transit (International & inbound travel) is 13 hrs ( full night) ??

If not what is a good option to book night stay close to T3 (outbound flight at 5AM) ?

The hotel in T3 is ok.

[McLaren Rulez]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZHFxLXHPSQ

Love the new livery. I always though the Air India red should be brighter and that's exactly what they've done now. The purple and gold shades are also very elegant.

[arijitkanrar]

Originally Posted by UD17

A very strange route was taken. I guess its to avoid Pakistan's air space.
Attachment 2501386

Its not a strange route. Quite the opposite actually. Its a direct route between Delhi and Toronto.
The world is a sphere. Delhi and Toronto are on the opposite sides of the sphere and both are in the northern hemispehere. So go to somewhere on the other side of a sphere, its fastest to travel over the top of the sphere (near the poles) instead of going around the sides (the equator)

This is called Great circle routing.
Its a straight route but looks curved because its projected on a flat screen. Straight lines on a curved surface get curved when the curved surface is straightened.
Here is how this route would look if projected on a globe. You can see the route goes over all the points in your image (for e.g. just along the Nordic peninsula, over Greenland etc).
https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=DEL-YYZ

[Satkaj]

Voted -No

Recently flew Bom- Melbourne-Bom .

Bom- Mel

1. Took almost 1.5hr at the Mumbai airport to Check in.
2. Flight delayed by 2hrs. Somehow felt that the pilot checked in late��. As I saw an co pilot running towards gate during delayed hours . Saw same pilot at the Melbourne immigration.
3. Since flight was delayed , gate was changed from one end to another. Instead of arrow bridge we had to take bus and guess what! We were made to wait on tarmac in bus for almost 20 min looking at plane. Zero communication between ground staff . Elderly, couples with infants all just kept waiting in 5 buses till the commotion was sorted. Worst of it, there was no remorse or sense of urgency in any of the ground staff. Seems for them it was business as usual. I did Tweet(x) while waiting in a bus and a response I got was that we are working on the matter.
4. Old plane, Few screens working while few were hanged. Same with USB ports.
5. Quality of food and a manner reminded me of Shatabdi train.
6. Inspite of 12hr non stop flight , no wet towels, dental kit provided. Missed tremendously.
7. No communication from Cabin to passengers like flight info, duration , local time, temperature. Again missed tremendously since flight data on screen was showing Paris as destination without any information.


In all we felt that we were picked up, dumped in a plane and thrown out at Melbourne.

Tata’s have a lot to work on. Starting with getting a new fleet which certainly is under works. Lesser I say about the ground staff is better as of now. One can buy a new plane overnight and change things but it will take them years to change mindset of people working for them. But I am sure things will start falling in place in a year or two.

I wish Tata’s , ALL THE VERY BEST.”

[V.Narayan]

Corporate honcho offloaded for 'being rude' to Air India crew

https://www.msn.com/en-in/travel/new...406859615&ei=9

In a possible first, the head of a prominent financial services company was offloaded from an international flight out of India for allegedly speaking rudely to the crew and arguing with them.

EXcerpts:

It was only after receiving an assurance about her behaviour that the airline agreed to accommodate the passenger on the next available flight.

The executive, also in the midst of a controversy, had boarded the business class of Air India's Delhi-London flight on Tuesday (March 5) when she is learnt to have started speaking to the crew rudely, sources said. When the behaviour persisted, the cabin crew informed the captain. "Some of the other passengers in business class also found her to be rude. Being a long, nearly nine-hour flight, the captain decided not to take off with what could be a potential troublesome passenger and she was offloaded," a source said.

On being offloaded, the executive requested the airline that it was "very important" for her to be in London. Air India said, "She gave us an assurance about her behaviour, and then we put her on the next flight to London. We don't want to inconvenience anyone but unruly behaviour onboard our flights is simply not acceptable. It does not matter whether a passenger is a common citizen or a prominent person.”

I support this firm conduct by Air India. I would now like to see this being followed with unruly politicians.

In the early 1990s Balram Jhakhar a prominent politician turned up over two hours late for an Indian Airlines flight and kept all the other 150 odd passengers waiting. On finally boarding he was as expected accosted by the fellow passengers and sadly instead of apologizing he lashed out at them and had his accompanying security detail go after those passengers! Those were the days when a call would come from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to hold the flight for some prominent politician!

[V.Narayan]

Used Air India for a Delhi-London leg and then two weeks later the London-Delhi leg. The aircraft on both flights was a Boeing 777 leased from I think Delta airline. The seats were in business class and here are my points based on my observations and conversations with the cabin crew.

On both sectors the cabin crew of 5 serving a business class of 32 pax took, hold your breath, 4 hours plus from take-off to complete the drinks+lunch service. I spoke to them and understood that all were new recruits with less than 6 months on the job. I quizzed them, in a nice avuncular way, with my grey hair, about the procedures and sequence they have been trained with and in my assessment, they are getting woefully weak training. My background in my ex-business gives me a very strong insight into cabin crew training and these young people in their 20s have clearly not received the training needed to run a galley efficiently and on time. Worst of all they were surprised when I told them that the entire service from drinks and nuts to cheese and crackers should take no longer than 2 hours and 15 minutes at the most. Mind you these were young people, enthusiastic, eager to serve and courteous unlike the rudeness or condescending tones one could encounter on Air France or United or British Airways. But they were clueless.

The old more experienced Air India crew from the PSU days were in the first class and economy class cabins with the new raw recruits in the business class with no adult supervision. Training & testing followed by more training and testing is at the heart of aviation which is what makes it not only the safest mode of transport but also the most integrated industry in the world. I think someone forgot to tell Air India this.

The seats and space were sub-par but I won't go there as the main point that hit me is the lack of training all around of the new cabin crew. God forbid if this lot had to deal with an emergency!!

Two odd years after the Tata takeover Air India is still struggling to find its way out of a brown paper bag. Rather sad.

I'm still willing to be patient and give the Air India management time to sort themselves out. But when training curriculum is so weak it tells me all is not well with the new Air India leadership's approach. It is one thing to order 400+ airplanes and quite another to get your working crew upto scratch.

[RunGaDa]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I'm still willing to be patient and give the Air India management time to sort themselves out.

My experience from a big IT company. The company I was working for was taken over by another bigger company. The new company laid down their Do's and Don'ts. It was pretty clear within a month that most if not all the old staff will be replaced. This is required if they want to wash out the old company way of working.
Tata should do a complete purge.
Set the process right.
Have penalties for every violation.
Then set benchmarks.
No other way.

[deovrat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Used Air India for a Delhi-London leg and then two weeks later the London-Delhi leg. The aircraft on both flights was a Boeing 777 leased from I think Delta airline.

The aircraft flying on London legs are those leased from Etihad, not Delta; and yes the business class seats on them are quite underwhelming compared to industry standard of today (yet they are still better than Air India's own legacy fleet!).