[vigsom]

Introduction

Air India has been in the news for (mostly) the wrong reasons of late. A lot has also been spoken about what's changed post the management change. This is an account of my brief encounter with the Maharaja. Until now, I've only used direct point to point flights by Air India, but this was the first time I was making a connecting flight from one AI flight to another AI flight for my journey.

What's changed?

1. Their ability to keep time; again, this is what I saw with many Air India flights in the two airports that I used.
2. Some cabin crew are really smart and provide excellent instructions - one of them was Yogesh!
3. The meal's become leaner, and meaner - definitely not a satisfier!

What's not changed

1. Excellent pilots
2. Generous check in baggage allowance of 25kgs
3. Old aircraft

[vigsom]

Run up to this trip

I was to fly from Bengaluru to Vadodara, and the easiest option was to take the direct 1055hrs Indigo from Bengaluru. However, on the intended date of travel, the direct flight was offering a ticket close to INR 10k, while I was pleasantly surprised to see an Air India option, with a stopover in Mumbai, priced at just approx. INR 4,900. This was a noon departure with a 3 hour layover in Mumbai. When I visited the option the following day, the fare had risen to INR 6,500. Tickets on the direct Indigo flight, meanwhile, had crossed INR 10.5k.Since my dates were kind of firmed up, I took an immediate decision to go ahead with the booking. Although the fare option showed big cancellation/date change charges, I went ahead and booked myself.

Post booking blues#1 - Historical late departure

After I'd got my ticket, I went online to see the performance of this flight, and to my shock, I found that the flight was a cool 2 hours, sometimes 4 hours late on multiple occasions. This data was coincidentally around the time Biparjoy was making waves.

Saving grace here, was that the flight from Mumbai to Vadodara also departed late on those same days. I said to myself, "Even if I have just an hour and 10 mins or so between flights, I'll make the connection". Why an hour and ten? 'Coz Mumbai Airport is a walker's paradise. One walks, walks, walks and walks endlessly to even make a connecting flight. Typical time taken from arrival to the next gate would be approx 40 minutes. One would have to be at the next gate 30 mins before departure, hence the estimate of 1hr 10 mins.

Post booking blues#2 - Baggage handling

Well, this might have been thinking too far, but I never trusted this airline with baggage, especially on the domestic circuit. One of my most prized bags was damaged on a flight to Mumbai sometime in 2011. It was clearly gross negligence on the part of the baggage handlers, and ever since, I've been wary. Also, given this connection reliability, I thought it better to travel light, sans any scissors or razors, so that I could transit fast, clear security without fuss, at least make my connection even if the first flight was late.

[vigsom]

D-Day minus 1

I was so psyched by the "on-time performance" of my upcoming flight that I began checking the flight status everyday. Fortunately, the flights had started operating reasonably on time. However, I'd already decided to keep my second bag with me, hoping that I'd be allowed to carry it into the cabin.

D-Day

No issues at check in, the staff were very happy to allow me the luxury of a 7 kg strolley and a larger back pack on board. Mobile boarding pass in hand, and I was off from the check in counter in a mere 30 seconds. Beat that if you can! Security was a breeze, and I was at my Gate in no time. At BLR Airport Terminal 1, there is this outlet tucked away behind the Tiffin Express right opposite Gate 17. It is called Eat at Bengaluru. I found their filter coffee really good.

Flight no.1

This one was an A321 - a rather old one with someone having marked a cross on the outer window pane and some of the beige panels wearing out. The good thing was the aircraft pushed back on time, and arrived 40 mins early into Mumbai. Surprise (or disappointment) on board was the meal. I was expecting full service but out came a pack with Bon Appetit on it and I immediately knew it was just a heavy snack. This time, I got a window seat (IIRC my first window seat ever on an Air India flight) and I made full use of it to capture some shots.

At Gate 17 - BLR


Colourful seats


but, cross marks on the outside window - like how vandals would mark their presence on shiny cars

Panel around the window


Crumpled Emergency Instructions card - handiwork of someone who had a delayed flight

View at take off from BLR


What you see (Veg)


is not what you get (Chicken)


A clear view at descent


suddenly getting clouded


Final approach into Mumbai




and finally touching down






Tarmac views - a Cathay Pacific Cargo B747 and a Sichuan Airlines aircraft


with another Queen - an Air India B747-400


AOG - Several GoAir aircraft not going

[vigsom]

At Mumbai T2 and beyond

We arrived at airbridge V26L and then it was a long long walk to departures, security and again a long long walk back close to air bridge V28. It was almost walking from where we got off to departures and again walking back to where we arrived. Since I had ample time at hand, I decided to go off route, take an elevator down to Gates 45 A to D to see something that was posted in the Ambassador and Landmaster picture gallery.

Originally Posted by GTO

Spotted this super-duper scale model of the HM Ambassador at the T2 terminal. I appreciate how it was created, and placed within the classy airport

Sadly, one of India's iconic cars was tucked away behind the escalator, and in the few minutes I was there, I was the only one looking at the car and the almost life like standees there.

Mumbai T2 Check In area


At the lower level gates (45 A through D)


The Ambassador scale model with almost life like standees on either side






Gate No.45 area


The same Air India B747-400 now seen from inside the terminal. Note the size comparison with the Indigo A320neo

[vigsom]

Flight No.2 - an A319

This one again was on time. While the first flight - a 1hour 25min one featured a sandwich and a pack of juice, this one at less than half the duration featured half a sandwich with no juice. What was common between both the flights was that Air India had been smitten by Schmitten chocolates - both the snack packs had one each. The serving size of the chocolate, in my view, was too big.

A321 (foreground) vs A319 (partly hidden)


The smaller snack on the smaller airplane


Summing it up

An overall positive experience on the following counts:

1. Before time arrivals on both the flights
2. Great pilots
3. Overall well turned out cabin crew with one of them, Yogesh, standing out
4. Generous check in baggage allowance of 25kgs (which I never used)

What needs improvement, though are the following:

1. Meal

- on full service airlines, one looks forward to a proper meal, especially on a mid-day departure. I was looking forward to one, and was rather disappointed. Luckily, I'd had something to eat before boarding the first flight
- I didn't expect to see a chicken sandwich inside a pack marked VEG SNX. They ought to be more careful around this

2. Maintenance

- the A319 was making a rubbing pulsating noise until just before take off. I have heard that noise on all A319,320,321, but it would stop after a few seconds. The noise was gone as soon as the aircraft was airborne
- the A319 was smelling real bad when we boarded; once the air-conditioning was up, it got better

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[wbd8779]

Originally Posted by vigsom

The same Air India B747-400 now seen from inside the terminal. Note the size comparison with the Indigo A320neo

VT - ESO the AI 747 has been parked for a while at the passenger side of the terminal, away from the other 3 that Air India has.

AI has improved by leaps and bounds since the take-over! Wish them all the best.

[skanchan95]

Nice & crisp review and photos .

I always felt that the legroom on the AI A321s was far better than their A319s and A320s.

Originally Posted by vigsom

- the A319 was making a rubbing pulsating noise until just before take off. I have heard that noise on all A319,320,321, but it would stop after a few seconds. The noise was gone as soon as the aircraft was airborne

I suppose it was this noise?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kaciiTdShQ

Oddly enough, I have never heard it on the new AI/Indigo A320neos, just noticed it the old Air India A319s & 320s.

[arijitkanrar]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Oddly enough, I have never heard it on the new AI/Indigo A320neos, just noticed it the old Air India A319s & 320s.

This is the reason.
https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/a...dog-sound.html

It sure was a unique aspect of the A320 family however uninetentional it was.

[porsche_guy]

Nice write-up! One thing I've noticed is that service on-board Air India has been quite inconsistent. I had logged my report here (Domestic Air Travel & Airlines | Reviews, Anecdotes, Advice, Cautions) of a flight earlier in the month. And I have to say that was a fantastic flight-one of the best I've had the pleasure to experience.

However just this previous week I also did BDQ-BOM sector on their A321ceo and faced some peculiar issues-

• (all)The seats ahead of the emergency exits rows were chargeable which I've not found to be the case before
• Unlike previous times or with other airlines, it did not even assign a seat by default on booking. Had I not noticed I'd have lost my previous window seat I yearn for in the mornings

The website is also not the easiest to navigate through and when clicked on choosing the meal options it threw glitches.

The service quality on this leg reminded me of the sarkari days with the entire crew having a take it or leave it attitude with a consistent frown on their faces. You can distinctly make out the difference between older and newer crew with quite a contrast.

Originally Posted by vigsom

Flight no.1

This one was an A321 - a rather old one with someone having marked a cross on the outer window pane and some of the beige panels wearing out. The good thing was the aircraft pushed back on time, and arrived 40 mins early into Mumbai. Surprise (or disappointment) on board was the meal. I was expecting full service but out came a pack with Bon Appetit on it and I immediately knew it was just a heavy snack. This time, I got a window seat (IIRC my first window seat ever on an Air India flight) and I made full use of it to capture some shots.

Panel around the window
Attachment 2467797

This is present across their fleet of old A321s. Since I don't think Air India is going to refurb these considering their age, for the near future we can do little but hope we get to hitch a ride in one of their few brand-new A321neos.

What you see (Veg)
Attachment 2467770

is not what you get (Chicken)
Attachment 2467771

This is very surprising. Because 1. I've never been served an option of a non vegetarian meal onboard AI domestic flights and 2. Because in a country such as ours such a small mistake can have major consequences!

Originally Posted by vigsom

Flight No.2 - an A319

This one again was on time. While the first flight - a 1hour 25min one featured a sandwich and a pack of juice, this one at less than half the duration featured half a sandwich with no juice. What was common between both the flights was that Air India had been smitten by Schmitten chocolates - both the snack packs had one each. The serving size of the chocolate, in my view, was too big

This is quite weird. I travelled only a couple of days in between your travel and I got a full sandwich with the juice box as attached below.

Summing it up

An overall positive experience on the following counts:

1. Before time arrivals on both the flights
2. Great pilots
3. Overall well turned out cabin crew with one of them, Yogesh, standing out
4. Generous check in baggage allowance of 25kgs (which I never used)

In my experience, most of the pilots flying Air India come from an air force background which is very reassuring. Hands down if the flight were to be in a sticky situation, I'd trust AI pilots much better than others.

On time performance is fantastic. It's better than Indigo if we go by recent stats as well. Another marked sign of improvement in the Tata era.

What needs improvement, though are the following:

1. Meal

- on full service airlines, one looks forward to a proper meal, especially on a mid-day departure. I was looking forward to one, and was rather disappointed. Luckily, I'd had something to eat before boarding the first flight

This is one reason why I will miss Vistara once the merger happens. Full meals on morning/late evening flights used to be a boon.

- the A319 was making a rubbing pulsating noise until just before take off. I have heard that noise on all A319,320,321, but it would stop after a few seconds. The noise was gone as soon as the aircraft was airborne

That's the noise of the PTU unit on the A320 family. Quite unsettling if it's your first few times onboard these but a normal thing. Basically just a pump building up pressure in the hydraulic control lines. Another thing which you might have noticed is the older ceo aircraft being a tad bit louder than the neo ones.

The A319 being a rare sight in India is something I definitely want to experience before it's gone(which will be quite soon). I know it might not feel very different but then when is one going to have a chance onboard it on domestic routes?

Another small but interesting thing I noticed is they have started using Indigo shuttles on the tarmac at BDQ. Quite likely they retired the ancient DL registered buses which were in horrid condition. I like this arrangement where both the airlines win.

To end on it, attaching a few pics below of other birds at CSIA


The VT-ESO Boeing 747


A SilkWay West Airlines Boeing 747 freighter, with a Vistara 787 and an Emirates Cargo 777 freighter


What seems to be a small glimpse of an Ilyushin IL-76 (experts correct me here)

[neeravnaik]

My recent experience with Air India was not good. I flew BLR-DEL-TOKYO and return. Main reason is the state of the aircraft’s is currently not good. Our fight got delayed two hours in Delhi due to some technical repairs required. This was really unsettling as you feel jittery while flying also. Only after few days of this the AIr India flight had to make emergency stop in Russia where people got stranded.

In addition to that 80% of entertainment systems were not working. This is unacceptable for an international flights. While returning almost all the entertainment systems were not working. When we asked the reason they said that they cannot ground the plane for repairs as it would take few weeks to get everything repaired.

The flight staff and pilots seem to be good but I would personally avoid Air India for some time till they revamp their fleet.

[ExtremePocca]

Oddly enough, I have never heard it on the new AI/Indigo A320neos, just noticed it the old Air India A319s & 320s.

Sorry for any errors, my interest in aircraft has waned over the past few years and is yet to make it's way back into my life so take my info with a grain of salt.

The barking noise originates from the PTU (Some hydraulic thingymajig).
I believe this noise is exclusive to the older A320 CEO models which use CFM - 56B and IAE V2000 engines. The NEO models which feature newer high bypass CFM and P&W engines have a reworked PTU which creates less noise.

TANGENT ALERT

These 2 engines had a unique buzzsaw sort of noise that is produced when the blades spin at supersonic speeds. New high airflow bypass turbines (Bigger) consume less fuel and produce similar amounts of thrust. Airbus wanted in on the profits and decided to make the NEO which can be equipped with turbines from CFM and Pratt & Whitney. These turbines spin slower and thus do not create the buzzsaw sound.

[renji3]

with another Queen - an Air India B747-400

I remember flying on one of these in the late 90's as a child , DXB-BOM route. Beautiful giant! Brought back a lot of memories

Incidentally, there is a write-up about these AI jumbos on a popular aviation site. Giving the link below. Worth a read:

https://simpleflying.com/air-india-b...747-where-now/

AOG - Several GoAir aircraft not going

Hahaha! wordplay duly noted!

[anjan_c2007]

When Indigo took a dig at AIR INDIA in September 2016. Clicked at the Mumbai Airport on 30.09
2016.