[JVH]

Why Air India, which dominates India-US routes, has become hell for passengers.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/busin...137305688.html

I was one of the passengers to fly AI 183, one of the flights mentioned in the article.

[sagarpadaki]

Question, why cannot AI replace the 777-200LR with the newly acquired six A350-900? The range of the A350 is enough for the Journey from India to all the destinations served by the airline in the USA. Since all the Airbus have same cabin configuration, aircraft swaps can be handled without causing downgrades to customers.

[m8002?]

Are TCS, TATA Motors and other Tata group company employees mandated to fly Air India now?
That could be a start where some follow up can happen through internal channels.

I flew the Toronto-Delhi flight in 2022 and the Entertainment screen was not working in business class. Though hospitality and food was decent.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Question, why cannot AI replace the 777-200LR with the newly acquired six A350-900? The range of the A350 is enough for the Journey from India to all the destinations served by the airline in the USA. Since all the Airbus have same cabin configuration, aircraft swaps can be handled without causing downgrades to customers.

I guess the A350's will eventually fly to USA but right now only 2 are in service I believe with 1 doing domestic duties while the 2nd one being deployed on the BOM-DXB sector.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by PPS

I guess the A350's will eventually fly to USA but right now only 2 are in service I believe with 1 doing domestic duties while the 2nd one being deployed on the BOM-DXB sector.

I believe all six A350-900 of the planes are delivered to AI

[PPS]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I believe all six A350-900 of the planes are delivered to AI

I stand corrected! Just checked on flightradar24, all 6 are pressed into service with 2 being deployed on the Dubai sector from Mumbai & Delhi and the rest doing domestic duties.

[Punto_Ntorq Guy]

Air India and Vistara merger sanctioned by NCLT.

Most likely Vistara will see a sunset in 9 months

https://x.com/jagritichandra/status/...239792148?s=48

Source : X

[itwasntme]

AI starting BLR to London Gatwick (LGW) direct from 18 August with great timings but with their 788s.

I would have thought it’s an opportunity to deploy the A350; shortage of enough type-certified pilots maybe?

Personally I prefer LGW over LHR. It's a less chaotic airport with excellent & cheapish train connections into London.

I look forward to more and more direct flights from Indian carriers at sensible times instead of forcing us to board between 0000 to 0400.

[fhdowntheline]

Why is AI taking so long to bring the A350s into the international route map? I can understand if the first plane is used domestically for familiarization for a couple of months. Its been nearly 6 months now overall. Pilot training would have begun even before the induction. Neither is the A350 a very recent aircraft type from Airbus nor is Air India a fledgling start up.

[V.Narayan]

Air India from what I hear from serving employees is suffering from a deep infection of "consultantitus ignoramus" and lost leadership.

Instead of drawing on the collective knowledge of the existing staff/leadership some of whom are quite competent the airline has been swamped with foreign consultants who are trying to figure out how to run an airline one of the most horrendously complex corporate organisms. Plus, senior leadership positions have been filled with officers from Tata's famed TAS cadre {Tata Administrative Service} and expat managers from the Western world.

While some of the old Air India employees may have contaminated attitudes the average person was/is well trained. It was their processes that were broken. Not tapping into the collective knowledge of the existing staff is not wise, IMHO.

Tata's have been in the chair since January 2022 and yet, yet they have not even got the interiors of almost any of the legacy fleet refurbished. Refurb of interiors is a messy but entirely doable job. Broken seats, non-functional video screens, worn out toilets, decade old upholstery....doing this stuff is not difficult in the overall context of manning, maintaining and operating airliners. For reasons I do not know the Tata led management has chosen to flog the legacy fleet with zero maintenance/upgrade of the interiors which is afterall what the customer experiences. I'm not even getting into their chronic flight delays.

Tata's have not got their Air India act together and now they are going to merge Vistara into Air India in 9 months and could make a bigger mess of things.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Tata's have not got their Air India act together and now they are going to merge Vistara into Air India in 9 months and could make a bigger mess of things.

Travelled to Singapore early this week on Vistara and cabin crew sounded pretty pessimistic. Though I did not noticed any drop in the quality and they were mostly cheerful, they have fears. Their sizes have been measured and new dresses should be with them soon. So, maybe it may even happen early then being anticipated.

[frewper]

Came across this new incident that is gaining attention on social media.

Source

I want to share a troubling experience with Air India Limited during my recent travel from AMD to SFO via DEL.

Clearance in Ahmedabad: At the Air India check-in counter at Ahmedabad, I checked in two bags weighing 21 kg and 16 kg. My carry-on bag weighed 11 kg, and I also had a personal item (a laptop bag). I specifically asked the check-in staff if I needed to shuffle the weight between my bags to meet carry-on regulations. The staff assured me that my luggage was fine.

Confrontation at New Delhi Airport: Upon reaching the boarding gate for my flight from New Delhi to San Francisco, Mr. Vishal Chauhan stopped me, stating that my carry-on bag was overweight. Despite explaining that the Ahmedabad staff had approved my luggage, Mr. Chauhan insisted that the carry-on limit was 8 kg and threatened to offload me from the flight if I did not comply.

Attempts to Comply: I calmly explained that my carry-on bag only exceeded the limit by 3 kg and offered to remove items (ready-to-eat food packets) to meet the weight requirement. Additionally, offered to leave my entire bag at airport as well. However, Mr. Chauhan continued to threaten me, stating he had the authority to remove me from the flight and that he would exercise this power.

Verbal Abuse and Threats: Mr. Chauhan's behavior quickly escalated. He began using abusive language, shouting at me, and treating me as if I were a criminal. He repeatedly told me that he would involve the CISF and have me punished. His threatening demeanor caused me significant anxiety and distress. In a state of panic, I called my parents to inform them of the situation. Mr. Chauhan then began verbally abusing them over the phone.

Intervention by Co-Passenger: A co-passenger, witnessing my distress, offered to help. Mr. Chauhan then began threatening this passenger as well, stating that he would involve the CISF and have both of us punished. He told the passenger to "sit down and shut up," emphasizing his intent to continue harassing me.

Coerced Payment: Despite my repeated pleas and offers to comply, Mr. Chauhan demanded that I pay Rs. 42,240 or be offloaded from the flight. This amount was exorbitant and unjustified, especially given that the items in my bag were not even worth Rs. 4,500. Under severe duress, facing the threat of being stranded, I was forced to pay the demanded amount.

Abuse of Power: Throughout the ordeal, Mr. Chauhan laughed and made jokes about my distress with his colleagues. He coerced me into signing a document and threatened to format my phone if I did not delete any recordings of the incident. His behavior was a blatant abuse of power and deeply humiliating.
After I finally boarded the flight, a co-passenger informed me that Mr. Chauhan had explicitly stated he intended to make me suffer financially and emotionally, saying, "Eey thodi der baith na chup, abhi rote hue paisa nikalege, isko toh chodenge nahi," meaning he would make me cry and extract money from me.

Although I always look at both sides of the story, this seems to be a clear incidence of high handedness by the Air India authority; Given that the author here had considered to reduce his luggage weight, he was forced to pay for the excess baggage or not take the flight.

I would also highlight the issue of the AI staff threatening to involve CISF security personnal. CISF is an elite security force of this country and not your roadside police havaldar who will come and side with the AI staff to make a quick buck from you. At an airport always keep your cool and as long as you are arguing sensibly and not shouting and creating a scene, you have nothing to worry about. CISF is more concerned about the security of the establishment, than deal with matters at the checkin counters.

[Turbanator]

Air India is indeed checking weight of carry-on baggage before boarding especially on flights to USA and Canada. Even duty free items are weighed and passengers are asked to pay or destroy. I faced a similar situation in April while flying to Toronto.

Because I was in Business, when escalated to a senior they backed off. And I was not having any checked in baggage. Not knowing about Air India, I was carrying pillow a quilt and white sheet . Air India though gives bedding and night clothing on long haul flights. So no such issue on returns.

[Turbohead]

After seeing so much bad press on the news for Air India, I have a few naive questions for the more informed folks here -

1) Why did Tata's buy this white elephant apart from historical significance?
2) From whatever I've heard, Vistara seems to be running well (in terms of services, maintenance etc). How are they able to do it and not Air India which is practically under the same group?
3) Why is customer service so bad? Isn't this group famous for its hospitality sector like Taj hotels? The horror stories are a shame for our nation which prides in treating guests like gods!

[padmrajravi]

I faced the same ordeal on my Heathrow - Mumbai- Kozhikode flight last month. They are very strict about the weight of the three bags - Two check in ones and one carry-on. After some argument, I was allowed to reshuffle my baggage within the three bags. The onward Etihad in the same leg was so pleasant in every touch point and did not object the weight configuration that I was carrying. I have only myself to blame for this ordeal though. My company provided the Etihad option for both legs and I chose Air India for return flight just to see if they had gotten any better since my ordeals with them in December. Even after I selected the airline, the travel guy personally called me and asked if I was sure about this. I insisted and endured a chaotic queue at Heathrow, a 2-hour delayed flight, and all those arguments over baggage .