[georgev]

AI Express LCC in all respect. Low paid crew , low cost food , low cost carrier (small seats, lack of leg space etc..). Behaviour of the crew directly relates to the nature / class of travelers in a LLC operating in/out of middle east

If AI express strictly stick to the timing/schedules with additional flights (other LLC has two flights daily, why ) as and when required (depends onaviation agreements ) they have a good market to tap. other LLC carriers from middle east has had better reputation due to the timely arrival departure, even tho they do'nt give free snack like Air India express. people want to reach thier destination on time which is the most important.

also they should air some patriotic ad.s. a good number of indians like to fly in thier apna national carrier provided they stick to the norms.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by saamblr

The point i am trying to make is that the service levels and attitudes are specially reserved for the Middle East sector because a majority of the passengers are uneducated blue collar workers . Do they pay any lesser to these crew who are on ME flights ??.

Reg service, thats always been the case in those sectors. I've flown from USA to Chennai on Emirates and Kuwait. The US and European legs are simply fabulous and the last sector from Gulf to Chennai is like a country-bus.

I have personally witnessed these laborers getting drunk and waving to air hostess and saying 'tch-tch-tch' like they call a waiter in a local restaurant constantly asking for more food and drinks. In return, the air-hostess also change their demeanor. You are just the unfortunate stereotyped victim.

[goingout]

I agree with Mpower. I've been to Europe with Emirates and I noticed the difference between Delhi to Dubai and then Dubai to Europe.

Dubai - Europe - Dubai = Lot less noise of people chatting and eating, calmer ambiance etc.

Delhi - Dubai - Delhi = Indians fighting over seats, asking for more and more booze, passing cheap comments, swearing, showing no manners when eating etc.
Of course I'm not talking about everyone, mostly the working class. But usually they are present in good numbers.
I remember there was a group of Tata employees going to Dubai and all of them were really embarrassing (abe aur beer le le etc.)
After the flight landed the captain mentioned that they had special guests from Tata and hoped they enjoyed the flight. They sure did with all that beer

But personally for me I did not notice a difference in service or smile between the Europe or Asian route (which is a good thing obviously). I guess it all depends on how you behave in the first place.

Best are Thai and Singapore airlines. Always smiling But they are not LLC obviously.

IMO there aren't really that many happy face low cost Airlines around that I've heard of. Usually its the same everywhere. The only difference is that Europeans don't expect to receive standard rate service when they are flying low cost and they accept what they get. While I have noticed Indians complaining even when they were flying for a Rs. 1000 ticket (no offense to anyone).

[saamblr]

[FONT=&quot]Goingout, paying less and expecting more is a typical customer behavior. Please do not generalize on this point. It is a known fact. I do not see this as a valid reason for looking down at the paying public. I can see some reason in what DWind mentioned - that the staff on return legs act more grumpy due to long hours etc. I have experienced this myself.

When you talk about more noise and general lack of order and fighting over seats, i do agree that one reason is the quality of travelers. However i cannot agree that this is the only reason. We as Indians , are more noisy and more colorful ( whatever that means). Ours is a huge country with huge population. We behave differently and cannot be compared to Europeans or Americans. We are not bad . We are just different. The quality of Indian Expats in Middle East also has changed dramatically as compared to say about 20 years back. Unfortunately the mindset of the crew is still the same. Whoever it is, how can you explain taking more than 20 minutes to give a glass of water to a crying child ?.A mother and child was next to me and I have seen this.[/FONT]

[polopm]

Originally Posted by goingout

I agree with Mpower. I've been to Europe with Emirates and I noticed the difference between Delhi to Dubai and then Dubai to Europe.

Dubai - Europe - Dubai = Lot less noise of people chatting and eating, calmer ambiance etc.

Delhi - Dubai - Delhi = Indians fighting over seats, asking for more and more booze, passing cheap comments, swearing, showing no manners when eating etc.
Of course I'm not talking about everyone, mostly the working class. But usually they are present in good numbers.
I remember there was a group of Tata employees going to Dubai and all of them were really embarrassing (abe aur beer le le etc.)
After the flight landed the captain mentioned that they had special guests from Tata and hoped they enjoyed the flight. They sure did with all that beer

But personally for me I did not notice a difference in service or smile between the Europe or Asian route (which is a good thing obviously). I guess it all depends on how you behave in the first place.

Best are Thai and Singapore airlines. Always smiling But they are not LLC obviously.

IMO there aren't really that many happy face low cost Airlines around that I've heard of. Usually its the same everywhere. The only difference is that Europeans don't expect to receive standard rate service when they are flying low cost and they accept what they get. While I have noticed Indians complaining even when they were flying for a Rs. 1000 ticket (no offense to anyone).

Fully agree with you. I have travelled to London every year on the middle east route and it is a harrowing experience for the bit between Chennai/Any other city to Dubai/Kuwait/GCC cities and vice versa.

People jump queues, push you, have loud ringtones and continuously ask for Whiskey, Brandy, Beeeeeer and drink like there is no tomorrow.
Nowadays the Gulf employers put their workers back on AI express, Air Arabia and the likes for their yearly trip. The air crew are quite case-hardened and you cannot expect anything better.
I have seen some pathetic experience on a regular IC BOM-MAA route and you will only get "superb" treatment at AI Express.
Sadly, mediocrity and compromise seem to be the order of the day.

Cheers!!

[sgiitk]

If you travelling from a smaller city the direct flights are often the LCCs only. For example from Lucknow to Dubai you have the option of Air India Express and FlyDubai. If one wants a regular carrier then add at leat four hours to the time. Lucknow-Delhi and then Delhi-Dubai.

Air India by an large is surviving on Govt largesse - bad service is there on most sectors. If they were good then why should the GoI force all official travel on AI. Highest fares and lowest grade of service!

[devarshi84]

Offlate I have travelled by AIr India and the least i would say is, my experience has been awesome.

I had a halt in London for 6 hours. After realizing this the staff filled my cabin strolley with sealed food packets.

I've always got seats of my choice and their food is byfar the best since Air Canada stopped.

I got to carry 3full size bags last year and their fares have always been cheaper than competition.

two thumbs up for Air India.

No Other airline flies from NJ to Ahmedabad in 17-19 hours.That too for $545 US. Add to that 105Kg of luggage with laptop bag and cabin bag extra. I was a happy man.


PS: The out of shape hostesses need to be sacked. Not because they are not glamourous. I wonder how they will be able to act quickly in the case of emergency. We are talking about a company here and not some charity network.

[techn0l0gist]

On a related note here's what happened at the Goa airport on 25th October 2010 - Air India did not take 13 passenger for the goa - mumbai flight for 6:00 am ! Now these passengers had come on time(earlier than 5 am!) and were standing in the queue with confirmed tickets!

Air India staff LIED blatantly to those passengers saying that they had a smaller aircraft(when asked which one, they couldn't answer coherently!) that day instead of the regular A320 due to some weird problem and hence they had to drop off those passengers!

This LIE got exposed on inquiring later with the ground staff on the airport as to whether they had an A320 or not !

In the meantime few minutes before air craft departure enters the Australian cricket team and goes straight through security to board the aircraft ! The REAL reason was that Air India offloaded passengers to put the cricketers on the flight at the last minute!

How unprofessional is that? And on top of that they LIED with a straight face - including their highest official who's on duty at the airport!

AI staff is discourteous, unhelpful , rude and no one can help you in case you end up having any problem with anything ! I'd take the train or drive rather than spend my hard earned money traveling on AI. And IF you happen to have a meeting with a tight schedule - please avoid AI !

[JoseVijay]

Reviving an old thread. Hope the following fits in here or else I request the Mods to move the below to the appropriate thread.

Clogged toilets ground Air India's Australia - Delhi bound flight

Source link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/44253532.cms

NEW DELHI: A Sydney-Melbourne-Delhi Air India flight (AI 301) had to be grounded in Melbourne on Friday as the toilets on board got clogged by the time it landed there.

"The maintenance unit worked on the problem in Melbourne. By the time the toilets were cleared, the crew hit the flying duty limit and they could not have operated the long oceanic flight to Delhi," an AI official said.

The 148 passengers had to be sent to Delhi on other airlines, an airline spokesman said. Flying to Delhi with unserviceable toilets when 148 passengers—apart from crew—on board who would be served a full meal, snacks and unlimited drinks was clearly not an option.

This is at least the third time this year that an AI long-haul flight has been disrupted due to clogged loos, raising question marks on the airline's maintenance unit. Earlier this year, an AI flight took off for Frankfurt from Delhi. Three hours later, it was back at the IGI Airport as the toilets were clogged.

Another aircraft flying from New York to Delhi also suffered the same fate. The pilots first wanted to divert to London but Heathrow was closed for the night. Then somehow one toilet became serviceable and passengers decided to fly to Delhi.

"These repeat instances don't show AI's maintenance in good light. Grounding an aircraft at foreign airports and sending stranded passengers to hotels or putting them on other flights costs a lot of money, apart from hurting our reputation," a senior pilot said.

The airline recently issued a show-cause notice to the head of its maintenance engineering unit for repeated snags. But with AI soon going to be headless, accountability seems to have taken a hit.

[volkman10]

Crisis at Air India Express:

[richie4u]

Call this a rant or call it a complaint, I would like to caution our fellow members and the readers of the impending mess that Air India Express is causing in flight travel these days!

In recent days, Air India Express has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Several flights have been cancelled at the last minute, causing significant inconvenience to passengers. This development has sparked a wave of frustration and concern among travellers who rely on the budget airline for both domestic and international routes.

I for one faced the brunt very recently. I booked a return family trip on Air India Express for 4 of us which includes 2-wheel chair assisted senior citizen from Goa to Guwahati and back on 18th May-24th May. Less than a few hours prior to the flight on 18th May I get the following mails from Air India Express:

Two flights cancelled back-to-back, hours before we expected to leave to the airport! Imagine the horror. Frantically tried connecting with Air India Express customer “happiness” team- only to be redirected to an AI tool, called TIA which seemed to be a trial version of AI because it was useless. I could not get another flight option and it only redirected me towards refund. No support mail ID, no human to talk to, the customer care team at Air India Express is a lost cause. Finally with hours to spare I had to shell out another 50k just for one-way flights with Indigo airlines for my family with no options left.

Cut to 24th May 2024- No email received of cancellation- a sigh of relief! We reached Guwahati airport well in advance 3 hrs prior for our flight back home. We check in, cleared security check and now waiting at the departure lounge for our flight. An hour before the flight is to depart, I get a call from someone from the check-in team stating that I need to come back to the counter- my connecting flight is cancelled!

And soon after I get their standard mail again:

Dejected I reach the counter along with my wheelchair bound parents, Atleast this time I thought I had humans to talk to who will understand my situation but I was wrong! The Air India Express Operations team at Guwahati Airport was remorseless to say the least. After making some noise their operations manager -Tanushree comes to us, takes our boarding passes and promises some alternate flight and told us to sit as she’ll get back to us in an hour. 1-hour passes, the 2nd hour dawned and no answer- all I get from the team is to “wait they’ll inform”. 3 hours later I go to the counter to ask and guess what I’m told- The operations manager has left as her shift is over! This was their heights of customer “happiness” team. Again, I had to approach a different Ops Manager who was unaware of the entire situation but at least this time I can say had a heart. He was helpless again cause by this time there were no flights available for almost 2 days to go to our destination. He helped us with different route for a flight 6 hours later from Guwahati-Bangalore after I sat with him and chalked out a plan where I had to book another flight by paying 52k again for Bangalore to Goa with Indigo airlines early morning next day.

A trip which was taking only 5 hours in total was now converted to a 24 hour ordeal with no food, no water and not even an apology provided for senior citizens left to fend for themselves. I shudder to think, what if I was not there to assist in this entire episode?

After this fiasco, I went in deeper to check the entire mess created and guess what I’m not the only one- till date as I write this, thousands of people are being harassed with last minute flight cancellations by Air India Express. The same reason- “Operational Reasons”. X is filled with disgruntled passengers who are left high and dry with last minute cancellations and no solution, just an AI bot giving superficial apology replies and pushing their flight plans into rebooking or refund!

Sorry for the long post but I found it necessary for my fellow team-bhpians and readers to not go through the same ordeal that I went through and to be vigilant. Until the issue is sorted, I suggest you take any other airline service provider for peace of mind. for those who are scheduled on Air India Express for the next few days- all I can say is Fliers Beware!

[deathwalkr]

At this rate, Indigo will be a monopoly over Indian skies :(

I hate having to shell out just to pick a seat, I hate the thin blue seats, I hate the minimal leg space...but I guess all that I hate are some reasons why they make such profits and keep flights operational.

We had a 4hr delay for an AI Express flight the other day, but were given sandwiches and drinks.

Your story is just horrifying :(

[richie4u]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

At this rate, Indigo will be a monopoly over Indian skies :(

I hate having to shell out just to pick a seat, I hate the thin blue seats, I hate the minimal leg space...but I guess all that I hate are some reasons why they make such profits and keep flights operational.

We had a 4hr delay for an AI Express flight the other day, but were given sandwiches and drinks.

Your story is just horrifying :(

Very true indeed, I still can't believe so many people's travel plans are put into jeopardy cause an airliner can't have a software running properly! For crying out loud the parent company owns one of the biggest software firm-TCS in this country-use them.

I still do not understand how the civil aviation department is letting this nonsense go on despite the magnanimous amount of complaints!

[dragracer567]

AIX has always sucked since the time they were used only for Gulf flights. They were regularly late, sometimes stranding customers for over 24 hours (sometimes they can’t leave the airport because of Visa issues), and the seats were like a bench, easily the worst airline seat I’ve been on and I’ve flown Ryanair!

[NomadSK]

That's simply horrible. At times such situations can be simply be de-escalated, if they will show little empathy. But alas, that’s alien to Indian customer service providers. They are of the opinion that they do some kind of favor to the customers by allowing them to fly in their aircrafts. I can understand that they might have some genuine concerns, but this is completely disgusting.

It's been more than a decade that I flew with them, reason they lost my baggage which was never to be found and didn't even accept my refund claims and on top of that the flight was delayed for hours. Those days it was a Govt entity, I thought things would have changed after Tata's took over, but looks like same old story with new owners. Anyway, nowadays the airport gives me a similar vibes as bus stand.

Last I was supposed to travel with them, just because of their 25kg luggage policy on domestic flights, I decided to take Vande Bharat for the peace of my mind.

Call it customer service - My mother traveling from US to India missed her connected flight due to weather conditions at Paris and she was escorted to the hotel (late in the night) by the customer team and later was made to board the next available flight and since then she only prefers to travel with Air France. That's how you attract customers in long run.