I had the priviledge of flying my first trip to India on board the latest 787 jumbo jet with Air-India. I didn't expect much at first, but I got a whole lot more than I bargained for. First of all, let me say that when taking 14 hour(or more) flights, comfort is key. Let me list the good: 1. Leg room. I was seated on the left side of the plane and there was A LOT of leg room. I could easily strech out and being next to the window, it was easier to get out past the passengers next to me. 2. Foot rests. That's right, they have adjustable foot rests. 3. Personal TV. Games, music, TV shows and movies. You had your choice of Hindi and English. I wasn't too impressed with the english language movies selection, but that's because I had already seen most of them. 4. USB port to charge your personal phone. Located right underneath the TV screen. 5. Bottled water in its own little basket for you. 6. Personal space to keep you gadgets and things was sufficient. 7. The Food. It's an Indian Airline. So they're gonna serve Indian food. And I thought it was delicious and there were a lot of little dishes on my tray. I didn't care for the plain yogurt, but that's just me. 8. Service. The staff were very efficient but could have used a bit more smiles. But now that I think about it, most other airline staff are the same way. It just depends on what's happening in their individual lives that day. The reasons above made my 14 hour flight more enjoyable. Here's a note on the passengers. I'm an American. So I'm used to certain courtesies, personal space and habits. When traveling to a foreign country and using their transportation, their customs and courtesies override yours. So be mindful of the following and you'll be fine: 1. There seems to be a little more respect given to elderly people. If you're waiting in the queue for the toilet and an old person walks up and just gets in front of everybody, just let it go. So you have to squeeze your cheeks or spout just a little longer, just remember that you have more time left on the planet than they do. 2. While standing in the queue(or line). Indians don't seem to have that same amount of personal space and can be all up on you. Just let it go. It's just a cultural difference. 3. Kids. They will also get head of the line priviledges for some reason. 4. Personal hygene. Some people from other countries "expire" quicker than others. But then again, you'd find that anywhere. Just be prepared. So the service and ammenities of Air India are quite outstanding. What one has to get used to is the habits of fellow passengers. Because everyone is different. I would definitely fly with them again. read more

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Always booked my flights to London via British Airways or Virgin Atlantic...but for some obvious reason my last flight to London was with Air India....why?.....(1. The dates that I picked was fully booked 2. It was cheaper 3. Nice to try another airline..... Remember the cliche....you always get what you pay for? .sorry to say but it was so true for this airline.....Everything was centered and catered for the Indian passengers ONLY!!! ..never took any considerations for the "other"....riders....Well before going for the negatives....I want to dwell on the positives first.... The airline staff....from the ground to the stewardess were very helpful , pleasant and accomodating....they were able to transfer me to a more comfortable seat after being "sandwiched by 2 nursing mothers with "shrieking" children... ..(I had the worst bout of migraine) and the stewardess had actually given me some analgesic and made some fresh fruits salad... Now for the "downers".....the movies were all Indian....and we're all captive audiences...unfortunately....the food are mostly a choice between what kind of curry....chicken..lamb or beef....and the passengers were very loud...and noisy...the man in front of my seat removed his shoes and socks and lied down...he probably thought he was in his living room...there was no order....the staff more lax than orher airlines...everybody keep moving around...even though they're not suppose to....and the beautiful lady in front of me unfortunately has a very "particular body odor" that got me the migraine ...sorry about that...... It was quite an experience....riding this Airline....but I am afraid I just might have to go back to Virgin Atlantic or British Airways....where I feel more comfortable and at home...watching English movies and dining with a lot more elegant choices....I don't care if I have to pay more..........As long as I get what I paid for!!!!.... read more

THREE - HUNDRED - AND - NINETY - DOLLARS ( :-0 again $390.00 for 3 kilos overweight? as a manager my heart would go out if i see anyone being charged this amount of money when they need to go to work in London and kindly asking for a internationally known amount like $50-100. I would try to do anything to help out, not just stand there with my fat belly out and make myself busy conducting line traffic, and say sorry i can't help [not even doing the regular 3 minute listening routine] :-), i believe it was the manager as the girl that checked me in shared my pain, and really wanted to help me out. I paid for the ticket $350 and for one luggage $390. I award you Air India with the Worst Airline Award. I mean really get-a-life, this is outrageous even by the international gouging standards. As a added bonus, the majority of the movies are Indian. The food is generous and smelled nice, but i didn't taste them. read more

Just returned on 11/17/18 New Delhi to JFK. Bought tickets in March.Was assigned seats (we picked).Going same as coming home. Had no problem going -Row 19.Checked in for trip home in India and had row 43. Air India asked for my receipt and showed them what they sent me. Sorry sir,your seats were taken! Very poor!! An assigned seat means nothing to them. Would not do anything for us!! Movies screen did not work either way. Sorry sir,planes are old!! Food is horrible. Bathrooms filthy. Now we know why they are failing. Beware of this company. Does not deliver service. Bye Air India. Never again. read more

I would like to start off by telling all readers what a disgrace Air India is to India, Indians and its passengers. I would like to share a recent experience that I had with Air India during my travel to India. The nightmare started on Tuesday, April 18. I had come to India because of a sudden death in my family and I was scheduled to return to the US on April 18. My return flight was scheduled from Ahmedabad to Delhi and then Delhi to JFK, New York. Please note that this flight was full and consisted of about 300 passengers, majority of whom were elderly people (on wheel chairs) as well as numerous children. The level of incompetence showed by Air India during this flight is unimaginable. It is even more difficult to digest the fact that these people who are working for Air India represent India and Indians worldwide. What a shame! What a disgrace! Not just for the Air India team but the Indian government in general. Given that this is a "government" airline these fools thinks they can get paid without doing any work! The following events took place at the Delhi Airport on between Tuesday, April 18 and Wednesday, April 19: 1: 30 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - All passengers were boarded on to the flight as the flight was supposed to take off at 1:45 AM. 2:00 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - The AC inside the flight was switched off. Current temperature in Delhi: 100 °C +. 2:15 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - One of the captains announced that they were experiencing some delays due to "technical difficulties" and that we are expected to take off in 12 - 15 minutes. 2:30 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - Passengers are walking around the cabin, picking up magazines to use as a fan. Kids are screaming because of the heat, exhaustion and lack of sleep. Between 2:30 - 3:00 PM (Inside Air India Flight) - One of the crew members announces that all passengers are going to have to get off the plane. All passengers stood up, got their carry on's and waited patiently for the door to open. 10 minutes later, the same crew member announces "All passengers please get back to your assigned seats" and no other information... 3:30 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - Once hour later the flight stood exactly where it was without any announcements or information from the crew members regarding the further delay. When I decided to approach one of the crew members asking what the problem was, their response " We don't know maam so we don't know what to tell you". Between 3:30 - 4:00 PM (Inside Air India Flight) - Once again, one of the crew member announces that all passengers are going to have to get off the plane. All passengers stood up, got their carry on's and waited patiently for the doors to open. Within a few minutes , the same crew member announces "All passengers please get back to your assigned seats" and ONCE AGAIN providing NO other information... 4:00 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - Two and half hours into this nightmare as the heat became unbearable some of the passengers requested that Air India let people back into the terminal while they waited. One of the people requesting this was a mother carrying her child who was suffering with fever while another passenger was a diabetic patient. Air India refused this request and after some heated arguments with passengers they finally opened the airline door so the passengers could wait in the aerobridge area that connects the flight and terminal. See pictures. 5:00 AM (Inside Air India Flight) - FINALLY! They decided they were going to let people on to the terminal. Their reasoning for this - We are going to fly another plane to JFK so all passengers will have to change flights. 6:00 AM (Inside Terminal) - After almost five hours' worth of wait, someone from Air India at the Delhi Airport tells a handful of passengers that this flight is being CANCELLED. After being asked by several people to SPEAK UP and INFORM ALL PASSENGERS OF THE CHANGE this man finally made an announcement. Reasoning for cancellation - the crew's shift is over and they have left so there is no one who can fly the plane (Are you serious?). The next flight will depart to JFK today evening at 5PM AND in the meantime all passengers are being taken to a hotel WHICH IS ONE HOUR AWAY FROM THE AIRPORT (Again, Are you SERIOUS?!?). All passengers will need to COLLECT THEIR LUGGAGE and CANCEL THEIR IMMIGRATION to they can take the evening flight. 6:30 AM (Delhi Airport) - I have decided I am not going to a random hotel. Given the lack of disorganization that Air India has shown tonight I do not trust that the evening flight will depart. I decided to purchase an Emirates ticket for a flight to JFK which was departing at 11:00 AM instead. After cancelling my immigration I asked an Air India representative what the process was if I wanted to get back bags back. She asked me to go upstairs to the second floor to the Air India counter and ask them for my bags. read more

Since I took the flight to Delhi a while back ( 2013). I will keep the review simple. First the negative. The plane was old and food was not up to the reputation of "Air India". Emirates provided better service for the two mentioned subjects. Positives:- Crew was nice. If you needed something just ask or help yourself. The flight was SMOOTHEST. Timing ( departure from USA) and arrival was perfect. Price was reasonable for tickets. read more

Not sure how many times I flew on AI from Newark/JFK to Delhi/Bom. I was skeptical every time for being a victim of AI's legendary lack of service I was proven wrong each time. the service was always topnotch, as much as you can expect in a coach class flight. read more

You always hear about bad Air India reviews but they have been proven wrong every time I have taken their flight. I would still love to see the flight attendant ladies in the Saree uniforms instead of the kurtis though as it just makes them look so much more elegant and Indian. Guys next time fly Air India for Newark-Mumbai route the flight started 10 mins before time as everyone was boarded in appropriately and reached Mumbai in 13hrs 30mins. Even landed 20 mins before time. I guess they got some better aircrafts or whatever and the lounge and food was very nice too. read more

I booked a round trip ticket for two people directly with the airline. At that time I provided them with all our details, including our Star Alliance MileagePlus account numbers. After the trip was completed, I checked our accounts and Air India had failed to credit us with the return mileage, almost 20,000. What has ensued is the worst example of customer service I have ever encountered in 60 years of flying. After dozens of emails and several phone calls, I have yet to be able to find anyone who will do anything to rectify the situation, in any department at the airline. Not only will they not live up to their obligations as a member of Star Alliance, and not only will they not even supply me with the details of my return flight (eticket number, seat number, flight number), they have now totally stopped responding to my repeated attempts. It is a mystery to me how the Star Alliance has allowed these incompetent, unprofessional and, frankly, dishonest morons in. I have dealt with uncooperative customer service many times before, the previous worst being Dollar car rentals, but this airline specializes in not doing what they are professionally obligated to do. Avoid Air India at all costs; if something goes wrong, you can depend on them to do nothing for you. read more

Okay, so I had to finally write this after going through several horrible experiences with this daily flight service from Mumbai to Newark but today's one was the final nail in the coffin. The flight itself has degraded from being bad to worst. The seats are torn, the AVs no longer work, the toilets smell with no toiletries most of the time etc etc. I wonder if they even service the plane which takes so much beating in the 15 hour non-stop journey daily. Today they denied a wheelchair(although being requested with ticket) to my wife in Mumbai travelling with an infant saying that she doesn't need wheelchair when she is physically able to walk. Seriously, you'll decide that for me now? It was only until my wife shouted on the staff that they relented but not without giving a full of attitude "It's your child. Not our responsibility" slur. You know what Air India management, you are a bunch of laidback bastards running a low cost cheap airline with all profits going into the pockets of the cheap politicians running it. You don't care about the airline, you don't care about the customers and you don't even care about yourself. As long as the government is paying you salary, that's all what you care about. Sorry Air India, I am done with your pathetic service and never ever travelling with you again in my life. read more

Airport counter staff members were rude, unhelpful and unprofessional. No helpful at all. Each person in the counter have different answer (I would say rule because they tell as command) on same issue. each person pass the ball to other one. Customer Care: Apart from that Customer care is Worst -1 (800) 223-7776 - Never response. guys who are in Customer care are not trained, not updated with required knowledge. for each simple question they put you on hold and ask from someone else and then give the answer( we can hear that asking help from others each time). Information provided by Customer care was WRONG. Passengers need to suffer due to that. No one takes the responsibility of wrong info provided. Missing Baggage: Vary careless about missing baggage. made tons of calls to ask the status. Each time they say: "will call, you" but never call. As passengers we need our baggage on time or at least should update with status I advice, if you a non- India don't ever select Air india for your trips they will call, but never calls. read more

NO NO NO......... Never ever take this flight!! Crew is absolutely unfriendly. Old ladies... with no manners at all... Flights are old too.. You have to pay anyway, take a good flight !! read more

Horrible service, I was not allowed to board a flight from Mumbai to JFK, New York because despite me checking in at 7 p.m. the staff dilly dallied till 7:58 p.m. to tell me my bag was overweight and I should buy another bag. When I asked them to wait for me as I'll hurry and do it, the person said no! After contacting the manager of the Mumbai Airport, Mr Debashish Golder, I get a response saying I was lying about the check in time and I actually checked in at 7:58 p.m., 2 minutes before the gates were to be shut. Also since I'm a student I had to book a flight the same week and was forced to book air india business class as no other flights were available. I was also charged a $400 no show fee and a $ 250 reissue fee. Nobody does that! Air india is a scam, do not buy these tickets; they do not respect people especially women and ill treat and harass the passengers! read more

Don't ever travel by Air India. If you have any problems during your journey, it will be a nightmare. My parents were traveling from Cleveland to Bangalore and they missed the flight in JFK. They reached the gate with 15 mins remaining but they did not allow them inside saying the gate was already closed. But that's fine and I am fine with the rules and regulations. My parents then went to the ticket counter and there is absolutely no one. Airport authorities announced for any Air India officials and no one turned up. In the meantime I called the JFK office and the lady didn't understand English and I couldn't understand what she was saying. They were so not cooperative. I even begged her to go to the ticket counter as my parents were waiting there and she blankly refused to do so. I don't understand why Air India hires such worthless people. I then booked a room for that night near JFK airport and I was trying to reach Air India customer service for more than 1.5 hrs and no one bothers to answer. After talking to our travel agent, we somehow got the tickets for next day. I verified everything and it looked good. But again a very slow and dumb lady was standing in the counter the next day and she was taking more than an hour to deal with each passenger and she was very rude with my parents and she did not find my parents tickets. After a lot of hassle and fighting with her, she took sometime to find the actual ticket which was reissued and printed the boarding pass finally. I will never book with Air India again and I ask people not to book with them as I don't want anyone else to have a similar experience. read more

Horrible Horrible experience. Flew JFK--DEL--CCU in Feb and then back again in March. The reason we chose this airline is that we wanted to reduce the takeoffs and landings for our baby and it is easier handling luggage and customs as they share the same terminal for domestic and international in DEL/BOM. JFK--DEL: The restrooms were horrible and ran out of toilet paper. The meals were inadequate. The flight time is 02:25pm which means you have missed lunch trying to get onto the flight. They give a small meal around 5pm NY time and then instead of a dinner, we were provided with 2 tiny sandwiches which pass off in guise of breakfast. DEL--JFK Anyways our flight back was the worst. The Air India counter at CCU was a mosquito breeding land. My infant was bitten horribly. Finally made it to DEL where they check your baggage and your details 3 times. Got back to JFK ( this time meals were better but restrooms still were bad ) and realised that the airline broke our suitcase. Went to the counter and asked them to look at it, They said we do not have the authorization to handle this case but here is the agent's number and they should be able to pay for it. It is broken and we should handle it. My mistake that I did not press and left. Then I called up the agent but there was no response for 2 days. Finally had to send out an email from the website to get them to even acknowledge that I was getting in touch with them. Took photos of the baggage and get the get out of jail card of airlines.. It is NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR. As if I do not know the difference between that.. Left a horrible taste in my mouth.. This is bad service and I would recommend that people choose another airline if possible. I wish British Airways restarts CCU route. read more

I had so many hopes when I chose this flight. But I had a horrible experience. The staff was grumpy and ill mannered. The worst I have seen so far. The bathrooms were unhygienic and smelly. No one cleaned them properly. The only reason i gave two stars is because of the food. The food is great and taste delicious thanks to their Chef. But other areas I mentioned above have to be worked upon. read more

I traveled return flight from JFK to LKO with horrible experience. Whatever you do to avoid your bad experience of changing the blocked seat. You will definitely get your seat changed on the last day. I travelled with my family including a 5 year daughter and tried my best to block the seat to remain together from 6 month in advance, even wrote a comment while booking to maintain our seat together. Seat was blocked together got confirmation of blocked seat by email after some calls but again after all the effort got shocked on the last day of journey when I just called to confirm and got to know that seat got automatically cancelled on the same day and allotted the totally different seat for all the 3 members, even for a 5 year daughter to sit alone for this long journey. This happened for 2 of the total 4 flight for return flight from JFK to lucknow. Also this took long hours and whole last day on call of short vacation in unsuccessful effort of getting my family together while journey. Initially they asked me to pay1500 rupees per seat more to get my blocked seat back and request at Airport which was unsuccessful.So if you are traveling prepare to get seat changed at last moment. read more