[Victor-whiskey]

Hello

I recently travelled on AI flight from Delhi to Amritsar. My wife and 1.5 yrs old daughter was also flying with me. Here is my ordeal.

1. From the moment we boarded the aircraft, the AC was not working. Despite a faulty AC, boarding continued. We all felt uneasy including my daughter. When we all raised this point, we were told that aircraft is being refuelled along with other checks and once we gain engine momentum, AC will start working. During this time, my daughter started getting restless. After about 15 mins of sitting in the flight , AC miraculously started working. All this while we were still on ground.

2. The seats were loose, handrests were loose, fabric was quite old and no screens were working.

3. Aircraft smelled bad. Cleaning process could have been better.

We just waited for those 40 mins to pass and felt heavenly even when we landed at Amritsar in the month of May. The hot weather on ground was still a welcome relief than the interiors of the aircraft.

Thanks

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

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

Add to that Air India Express's service has not normalised at all, it was last month when the whole controversy happened and we had a flight with them at just that time, it, however when checked later turned out to be AirAsia's flight (AiX Connect) but just branded Air India Express and since the problem at that time was with Air India express's employees and not Air Asia ones, I figured there would be no delays with these ones and I turned out to be right, both the flights went smoothly and on time.

Now, this month too I booked a flight with them, this time it was Air India Express and not the Air Asia one,I figured it has been a month so the operations must have normalised by now but they still seem to have major issues, the first flight delayed by 1, then 2 and then 3 hours with my family at airport and I kept on getting these messages and then it finally took off, the connecting flight post that had a delay of a whopping 5.5 hours! Making them reach their destination around 6 hours late.

Never again Air India Express, also later got to know both these planes were 737 Max so I will be avoiding Air India Express like SpiceJet and Aksa Air for this reason and will stick with Indigo, Vistara or maybe AiX connect in the future.

[dileepcm]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Tata's have been in the chair since January 2022 ...

.

I cannot remember whether I shared this incident here or not, anyway, I think its still relevant.
I travelled from Amsterdam to Delhi (and then to Kochi) in Aug 2023. Never in my life, I had seen such a filthy plane.

Besides the food (above average), everything else was just too bad. Not only that infotainment did not work but looked like it was broken for ages, seats were dirty, plane was not properly cleaned, toilets - not cleaned for ages - list goes on.
I understand that some of the planes they have are old, but does it mean that it needs to be dirty?

I guess pictures speak for my horrible experience. I now feel bad that I did not click more pictures.

[2TR-FE]

Originally Posted by Victor-whiskey

Hello

I recently travelled on AI flight from Delhi to Amritsar. My wife and 1.5 yrs old daughter was also flying with me. Here is my ordeal.

1. From the moment we boarded the aircraft, the AC was not working. Despite a faulty AC, boarding continued. We all felt uneasy including my daughter. When we all raised this point, we were told that aircraft is being refuelled along with other checks and once we gain engine momentum, AC will start working. During this time, my daughter started getting restless. After about 15 mins of sitting in the flight , AC miraculously started working. All this while we were still on ground.

Thanks

Just completed an international+domestic flight with a 4 hr layover in between.

Both flights were delayed by more than hour. Although in flight service was good, the delays really made the overall experience too sour to continue flying with Air India. I believe I am lucky to get delayed for 1 hour.


As a Bhpian informed, even my flight was too hot on the tarmac. The landings in both flights were too hard.

Nevertheless, I pity the employees. It's just that they are stuck with an employer who has messed up its name in the industry and consistently tries to uphold it's reputation (as the worst).

[Delta Wing]

Since i will not risk an international flight by AI, cannot share the agony but can only sympathise with those who suffered the ordeals. The simple question I have is, when were Tata conpanies, with due respect, known for great customer service or squeaky clean product / service experience, if ever? They have inherited a problem child which was abused by the government parent, so it's grown into an unruly adult. Cultural issues are the bane of M&A transitions, due to the depth of roots. Great companies have gone down due to this cognitive dissonance (Kodak and RIM come to mind). This problem cannot be easily solved by throwing capital at it, though the consultants will have slides to tell otherwise (Musk applied his characteristic shock and shake style to do this at X by simply removing the people in a mega burst, jury still out on it). Operational excellence is the hardest parameter to attain and maintain and requires empowerment rather than fear. Good luck to Tata turning it around.

[MyLife_MyCar]

I have sworn never to travel internationally with Air India, at least until Tata sort out their aircrafts' well-being and flight schedule.

Last year I, along with a colleague, had to travel to Cincinnati for a customer workshop. As Air India operates direct flight to Chicago, it felt like a good options as Cincinnati is close to Chicago.

My colleague was flying Hyderabad-New Delhi-Chicago and I was to board from New Delhi itself. The STD of the flight was 2:40am from New Delhi. I reached airport 3.5 hours in advance with my family accompanying me to the airport. On reaching the check-in counter, I was told that my flight is delayed and rescheduled for 9.30 am.

There was no prior email/sms notification from airline about the delay until this point. Even the flight information screens in the terminal were showing 2:40am as the departure time. I double checked with the staff at the counter and they said that the flight is indeed delayed and asked me to proceed to another counter for more information.

At this point, I called my wife who has already left the airport after dropping me off. I asked them to come back and pick me up from the airport. Meanwhile, I approached the other counter where Air India staff was dealing with this delay. Lot of restless passengers enquiring for alternatives but the staff was dead slow in providing any proper information.

I called up my colleague who had arrived by then from Hyderabad and was passing through the transit. I told her about the delay and asked her to check with the airline staff.

The real ordeal begins now. This delay meant that we were going to miss our connection from Chicago to Cincinnati. Hence, I must wait at the airport until the staff can reconfirm our connection on an alternative flight. Even after waiting and constant follow ups for 1 hour there was no confirmation from the airline staff. At this point, I again called up my wife, who was waiting outside, to go back home.

After almost 3 hours, Air India staff booked me and my colleague on a different connecting flight. While my colleague was provided a stay at the airport hotel, I was asked to go back home. I reached home at 3.30 am, tired and frustrated. Set the alarm for 5.30 am to reach airport between 6.30 - 7 am (remember the rescheduled time was 9.30 am).

After reaching back to the airport in the morning, I got another surprise that the flight was further delayed and will depart at 1.30 pm! Tired of all the drama from previous night and knowing that there is nothing that I can do, I just blamed myself for choosing Air India over other options. This further delay meant that my connection was going to be missed again

I was left at the mercy of Air India who assured us that they will book another connection by the time I reach there. I was left with no option but to trust their words and went to the lounge to kill another 3-4 hours. My colleague was lucky to have the airport hotel and was comfortably staying in the room.

Finally, there was no further delay and the boarding started (phew!). Rest of the flight was uneventful, of course, with non-working screens and okayish food.

We reached Chicago and at the gate we were met by a United airline staff who checked our boarding pass and told us to quickly go to their counter in a different terminal using the airport metro. We rushed there thinking that we were lucky to get another connection. But the truth was far from it.

On reaching the United airlines counter, they checked our boarding pass and said that they cannot find any booking in their system that our PNR seems to be booked for an American Airlines flight to Cincinnati leaving shortly. We again rushed to American Airlines counter (don't remember if it was in the same building or a different one). Luckily, they had our bookings and it was the last flight from Chicago to Cincinnati for the day.

We reached Cincinnati at night, but guess what! Our luggage didn't. Had to spend another couple of hours with American Airlines staff trying to locate the luggage. They were able to track our luggage back to Chicago airport where it did not got loaded to the connecting flight possibly due to confusion between United and American airlines with regards to our booking.

Fortunately, this was all happening on a Saturday and they said that we will get our luggage delivered to the hotel on Sunday. I was mentally preparing myself to buy new cloths and shoes if the luggage didn't arrive by Sunday evening.

On Sunday, entire morning was spent following up with the airline staff to ensure that our luggage in on the way. Finally it was delivered to us in the evening.

That was my experience with the Air India's international flight. No, it wasn't at this point when I decided not to fly Air India again. It was my return journey where flight was delayed again by 7 hours, but I don't have anymore energy left to berate Air India.
Hence, I will just conclude my post by saying that it was the return flight and its ordeals which made me swear to not fly Air India, not anytime soon!

[kaak009]

In my humble opinion this is a systematic issue with the high headedness of Tata Sons as an organisation

TCS: Hybrid and wfh models are destroying the talent plus the ultra low end CTCs to employees is keeping new talent away

Air India: Esteemed members have already put much above me

Tata Motors: Just recently visited TM for a TD for Altroz, spent 30 minutes inside the showroom no one even came to greet, left without any information or test drive whatsoever

Vistara: One knight in the shining armour which is forced to switch the armour to the regular UGs

All in all it is the top management which is an issue in all these cases, it cant take 2 years to not update anything within those dreary old A320s. With Indigo being reduced to chart paper seats, Akasa with terrible leg room, SpiceJet being on a real real downer idk what choice do we have as a consumer who wants to travel without any issues from A2B

[SchnelleKurven]

“ I have avoided/will avoid Air India” is the Running Theme in this thread Not a good advertisement for the product I must say.

I am a domestic frequent flyer (self sponsored) on the Mumbai-Bangalore leg. Own-Dime travel with stingy nature means the I have experienced Akasa, Indigo, Air India, Vistara, SpiceJet.

For me, Vistara and Akasa are the preferred choice ; Vistara for overall experience, Akasa for the newness of the 737-Max 8’s (Gulp).

Air India is the option for Leisure travel (read massive delays acceptable) with food. Indigo is a cargo airline , responsible for moving tonnes of human weight from point A to B. Expect nothing, get nothing. The 600 rupee sandwich is a good way to hold the hungry to ransom. SpiceJet is for the brave hearted.

The day the merger of Air India and Vistara was announced, I could only think of the case studies of IA-AI, Boeing-McDonnell Douglas and Time-Warner mergers.

I feel for the crew of Vistara followed by that of Air India. Vistara folks must be bracing for what’s coming and Air India folks are already there. The ‘synergy’ is going to hit hard.

[SchnelleKurven]

Originally Posted by kaak009

Tata Motors: Just recently visited TM for a TD for Altroz, spent 30 minutes inside the showroom no one even came to greet, left without any information or test drive whatsoever

Vistara: One knight in the shining armour which is forced to switch the armour to the regular UG

Well, the showroom and service experience is down to the dealer per se than Tata motors , but dealers are finally ‘route to market’ for OEM ‘s. OEM’s cannot go scott free. Even I had similar experience recently, I asked for TD of Altroz I Turbo. They said will check and after 5-6 different sales folk bombarded me with multiple calls, I was told there is no I turbo TD
Vehicle.

Via Team-bhp I realised that the I turbo is getting delisted and the Racer is supposed to fill its place. Was I told this before and now have I got a call about the Racer from Tata dealer? No

Sad for Vistara, the small oasis in the domestic air travel sector is drying. But the upshot is, I am planning more road trips and exploring non touristy places such as Aurangabad, Lonar , Surat , Kolad

[mayankk]

Does anyone any clarity on CV vouchers? I have a couple of upgrades, and business class vouchers available. Will they be honored by AI?

[GTX+]

Just last week I flew Delhi to Dubai and back on Air India. My experience was a mixed bag.

Pre-boarding:

Overall smooth at Delhi, no complaints whatsoever. However it was a little chaotic at Dubai. However, miraculously a gentleman arrived from somewhere and brought some semblance and the queue started moving quickly. However, when he arrived, I was almost at the top of the queue, having spent close to an hour. But people behind me surely benefited.

The Aircraft:

I think there was a last minute change to the plane for DEL-DXB leg. The plane we got was a smaller one. Funnily enough, some seats had screens, while some did not. The ones which had screens, obviously didn't work (were covered by the seat cover). The plane overall wasn't smelly but surely had seen better days. Seat covers were worn out and torn at few places.

On the DXB-DEL leg, we got the brand new A350. Boy what an experience it was and such a proud feeling. The insides were spic and span. Everything was new. The in flight entertainment was top notch. I think the touch screens were definitely better than what I have experienced in Emirates. I just hope the passengers travel responsibly and take good care of these newbies.

In flight Service

Terrible in the DEL-DXB let. They did not have any cushions or blankets. As I mentioned no in flight entertainment. Food was terrible. The crew appeared as if were being forced to serve.

Exactly opposite in the DXB-DEL leg. Food was great and so was the crew. Eager to help with a smile on the face. On asking we were promptly provided cushions and blankets. Only downside is the pretentious headphones they provided. I mean who comes up with such designs and more importantly who approves them?

Baggage Handling

It took ages for the luggage to arrive at the belt in DXB however other than that there was no drama.

On the contrary, on clearing immigration at DEL, when we arrived at the belt, all the luggage of the passengers from our flight was strewn around near the belt. Someone had actually just lifted and dropped the luggage. There were couple of AI staff over there who just ignored my questions. 2 of our bags were nearby but the 3rd one was placed on the far side near the next belt carousal. Worst experience ever and worst ending to what was an otherwise excellent trip on the A350.

[L8ButV8]

Originally Posted by 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.

Air India needs to fly their A350s domestically for 6 months, before they are allowed to fly internationally.

I have been a regular Air India traveler on their long haul US- India flights for 6-7 years (yes, even during their horror days ). But I am now switching away from them-- more below. I fly with them for 1 reason: they have the best direct flights from the US to India.

The flights used to be very outdated jumbos (I think Boeing 777s). But over the last two years this sector has improved vastly. They have introduced ex-Delta planes, and business class provides fully private cabins, which is industry leading. However nearly everything else is sub par-- food, service , lounges (overseas), entertainment etc. Yet, solely on the basis of the improved planes they have jacked up their prices to be higher than Emirates/Qatar.

My 3 most recent flights from US-India in March, April & May 2024-- were each delayed by 24-72 hours. And this is where Air India's true colours show. The outsourced customer support teams had no authority to help me out.

• On one of the trips I had to spend nearly 5 hours on the phone (escalating to corporate), to get rebooked onto a partner airline, since no AI flight was available for 3 days. This is a table stakes service.

• And then they have rules that make no sense-- on my most recent trip, SF-DEL was delayed by 2 days. I had to be on the phone for 2 hours to coerce them to shift me to the SF-BLR flight instead.Next, they made me wait in BLR for 24 hours for the next available business class seat on my domestic connecting flight. I wanted to get on an a faster domestic connection that had economy available but was stone walled by "we cannot downgrade you saar, you have to wait"

Everything requires approval by corporate, and it is like dealing with Govt red tape even now. Mistakes/issues happen every where, but how you deal with them is what sets a company apart.

Worst of all, starting this April Air India devalued my Frequent flyer points by 50-60%. This was a horrible move that impacted myself & others I know who have been loyal to the airline.

All in all, my experience over the last 3 months has made me switch airlines for June/July on this sector--(a) massive delays, (b) ineffective customer service, (c) destruction of my frequent flyer points & (d) steep price increases leave me with little incentive to stick with AI. Air India might buy shiny new planes, but nobody will care for them if they cannot get their basic services/operations to work smoothly.

[GTX+]

Can we add another option of "50-50" or such to the poll?

Given that my experience was a mixed bag, am not sure if I should select Yes or No.

There would be others with such experiences.

Thank you

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by L8ButV8

Air India needs to fly their A350s domestically for 6 months, before they are allowed to fly internationally.

All in all, my experience over the last 3 months has made me switch airlines for June/July on this sector--(a) massive delays, (b) ineffective customer service, (c) destruction of my frequent flyer points & (d) steep price increases leave me with little incentive to stick with AI. Air India might buy shiny new planes, but nobody will care for them if they cannot get their basic services/operations to work smoothly.

Any amount of domestic flying will not improve things on international sectors if there are basic operational issues. Its not about the routes and planes to that extent.

[RohanDheman]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Does anyone any clarity on CV vouchers? I have a couple of upgrades, and business class vouchers available. Will they be honored by AI?

CV points, tier status and the vouchers will be transferred as is