you should drop a mail to Air India. last year i upgraded from economy to the front row of economy and was later told that the infotainment systems were not working. So i was given the option to get my old seat back. followed by a request to just sit in the front row for take off and landing. went on my trip came back after a month and sent a mail explaining the situation. i was easily refunded 30000inr that my family used for upgrade
Someone at Air India stole my personal data over the summer and they did absolutly nothing about that, despite me complaining directly to them and publishing a video about it... so, I'm not even going to waste my time trying to pursue the refund.
Meanwhile Air India posting 350 everyday on their instagram stories, Talking about instagram we need a flip flop instagram account so that maybe we can get some insight and updates about what you are up to. So that maybe I can watch your stories instead of Air India 350.
Hi, Kevin. Just 20 minutes in transit lounge? Lucky you. Two years ago I had a 9 hour layover from KTM to LHR. I was denied exit from the transit lounge for SIX hours even though I had a boarding pass and a hotel room booked. I "had to wait for Virgin Atlantic staff to come on duty to collect my luggage" even though I didn't want my luggage and it was booked through to LHR. Very rude jobsworthy wouldn't let me through. I was considering flying AI next year to Melbourne. I'm glad I didn't go down that route. By the way my Lufthansa journey took a turn for the worst this morning when they cancelled my SIN to FRA leg. It took me over two hours to sort it out. thanks for brining us another great review as usual.
The merger with Vistara and Air India's aging fleet create challenges in unifying fleet branding and streamlining operations. Repainting and integration will likely take 3-4 years, as updates align with aircraft maintenance. Hopefully all goes well by then.
@@jacintofernandes2907 when someone is ordering something like (140-400) brand new aircrafts from manufacturers, they are not going to supply all of them overnight (2-4 years is like overnight in aircraft making business). They won’t want to see their products falling from sky. On the other end, Tatas has to revive, sinking, stinking, rotten business while keeping the business afloat
One of the worst things to happen to the Indian aviation industry is Vistara merging with Air India. Personally, after Kingfisher Airlines, Vistara was the next best FSC. Now with it being ‘assimilated’ into AI, things would likely be bleak. I’ve loved flying UK, but I can’t say the same about AI - only exception being their A350s. If I was flying to DXB, it would be Emirates, no doubt! It’s known by us old-school avgeeks in India as the nation’s unofficial flag carrier - EK operates 5 flights out of my home base in Mumbai (including an A380 flight).
I have completely given up on Air India. They simply just dont understand how to clean an aircraft. Period. I have got sick twice with their business class food and i think i know why when i see the state of their aircraft. Thank you for continuing to fly them so i can continue to justify their position on my do not fly list. Great video as always.
@tfft LMAO I want to see one of those new A350s in 2 years. It'll be filthy I'd bet anything. If you're doing this in 2 years I'll join you on one. Tickets on me :)
They've got like 1001 people all trying to do the same job, and they still fck it up. It's just beaucratic, organisational chaos with some aggro thrown in for good measure.
I comment often on your videos and fly to India often. On my next trip, my business class $$ went to Etihad. I am willing to forgive broken stuff because of how difficult it is to source outdated parts but I am not willing to excuse the cleanliness part. It can be broken but at least clean. Especially considering a group relationship with the Taj hotels, it's unforgivable that they just "gave up" on these interiors until the refurbishment begins.
Agree, it's hard to understand how a company can be so world class in one regard and so blase in others. As for the seats, to my knowledge these seats are still being produced, I know some airlines that received delivery with them as recently as earlier this year- so it's definitely not a problem to get parts for these seats. Not a problem unless you locked the purse up lol.
If you want to come to India then probably I will suggest atleast try the new planes. If you don't find the new A350s then don't try Lol. If you do find the new A350s, then probably it's a must try.
“Soon we were starting to pile up like dishes in a dorm room” 😅😂 It’s not easy being flight crew and on top of just doing your job well, having to be in service recovery mode the whole time…very frustrating, time consuming and embarrassing! I will wait with flying Air India until there will be amore consistent improved product. Thank you for the review 🙏🏼
Yes service recovery mode in and of itself is exhausting. It's like holding an over inflated balloon, knowing it's going to pop, but until it does, you need to pretend everything is okay lol
Air India's standards were already this bad when the other failed airlines were in competition. I don't see how having more competition will ever spur them to improve. And part of the reason for this is because the culture of complacency has already taken root when they were consistently bailed out by the government because they were too big to fail. But hope and $ signs spring eternal for Singapore Airlines. Good luck to them if they can turn things around, but my guess is that they'll be looking to sell AI at a huge loss within the next decade. Also, if Singapore Airlines can associate themselves so closely with Scoot and not bat an eyelid over their disparate standards and policies, you can be sure that they would have no qualms about their association with AI.
I have not been on Air India for more than 10 years and can see that things haven't changed much despite TATA acquiring the airline and all the promise that came with that. I wrote Air India off when on a business flight i noticed things around the cabin broken, falling apart etc. My thought was " what about the maintenance required to keep the airplane flying" - did that get similar attention to detail? I used Jet Airways, Vistara, Kingfisher and a couple low cost one for short flights in country. The good news is that Air India doesn't show up on Google Flights where i do most of my searching. You are a brave fellow to fly Air India. They may get new airplanes long term but if they don't train their people on customer service - they will still be the same.
Agree their maintenance and service are worst. But still it isn't just only Air India. American and United have even worse service, cabin crew, seats than Air India. Except Delta and JetBlue the rest all US carriers are as worst as Air India.
@@ishaanrevankar492 I rarely fly Delta and never on JetBlue but have logged a couple million miles on United and American. I've also flown on most of the Star Alliance airlines. I have complaints about American and United. So this is a relative rating. I would not put them at the same level as Air India. When I heard that TATA acquired Air India i looked forward to the improvements that was promised. I am looking for another option to fly to India and Air India is a Star Alliance member.
Re Indian aviation, you also forgot to mention IndiGo and their rise. Flew last summer with them (after carefully watching your review from 1y ago or so) from Dubai to Delhi and it was quite good. Okay, they don’t have business but the XL seats are absolutely fine.
The transit situation happened to me in 2014 - they used my single entry visa to connect through Delhi and made me apply for a new one at the embassy in Bangkok - lucky for me my passport was still at the embassy when the military overthrew the government in a coup. That was an adventure.
it baffles me how the Indian government just allows a company to own 4 airlines in a market like india. everytime i wanna take a short flight from my home(VOVZ) to maybe VOHS or VOMM, the prices are just insane most of the times. Very poor regulation in terms of competition in the market. and Air India selling these broken seats for business should be studied lol, all they are dong is just hurting the brand while removing vistara from the spotlight. Amazing video btw, have been watching your videos for a while and i absolutely love them. keep up this amazing work.
You do realise that the government is the main reason air India is like this. They manhandled Air India not the Tata group. All of a sudden when the government gave up air India everyone is constantly blaming the Tata group for not doing much but you should know it takes time. Yes the prices are high no denying of that but all we need is patience to see how well air India can be brought back from the ashes. Additionally Tata is combing major airlines ( that they all own anyways ) into just two main carriers. If Tata created a good product such as Vistara, I can only imagine how well they’ll transform Air India.
@@jacintofernandes2907 hey i was mentioning the ICAO codes of the airport. apologies, it flew over my head that people outside the aviation industry dont hear them often
Kevin... As I have said before you have a great sense of humor and of course that sense of humor has probably saved you more than once. This experience would be a good example of that. Otherwise you would be banging your head against the wall once you finally got to your hotel room.
I don't talk about this much becuase it's hard to explain it concisely without sounding like a true jackass lol... but over the years of doing this, I have more or less trained myself to not care. When I'm at a hotel or I'm on a flight for the sole purpose of making a video, whether it's amazing or it's horrific, that is 100% up to 'them'... I'm just here to show you what happened. Taking that "omg why is this happening to meeeeee" element out of my experiences preserves my sanity haha.
Hi Kevin, You are 100% correct, I booked my wife on this flight just 2 days ago and she had the same thing to say, inoperable seats and IFE screens, stuck tray tables and dirty cabins the lot, except she didn't have the A Team of flight attendants you did and I am hoping that their restoration can help them improve as they go on.
Actually they're 2 extremes.. Either it's too good or too bad, no in between... But being an Indian, and frequently flying ai since last 10 years, I can say ai has improved since the takeover by tata... Yes, they're slightly slow in overhauling etc, but they're getting there.....
I really appreciate your content. I know for sure Air India can't just pay you money to shut your mouth like they have done with other Indian UA-camrs and reviewers. I like your courage and honesty. I just hope Air India learns from your content.
Considering SQ picked the guy who is running the airline, i really expected them to be doing a better job. Maybe the ex Turkish airlines chairman Tata was considering might have been a better choice
Yeah, I honestly think it's laughable to think that someone who has previously run a relatively small LCC would be able to manage this behemoth of a task.
the air india 787s were already in a broken state for a long time, so am not surprised at all. but again, air india fares in business are quite competitive for the destinations i fly. like imagine 1 - 1.2k sgd 1roundtrip biz on a A320 vs Singapore airlines charging 2.3k for the same route on 787. At the end of the day, it always comes down to pay less for a inferior product or pay more for a superior product and the wallet makes the decision.
I agree even when Tata bought them they weren't in great condition... but, 9 of 18 seats having something wrong with them? Six fully inop? That's a different level.
Tbh I get it when air India has issues with old fleet but simple things like planes not being clean aren’t acceptable, and from what I’ve observed air India isn’t doing much to repair these broken IFE’s and seats it’ll be a long few years before air India becomes decent
This is the biggest misconception I find in these comments. Air India does not have an old fleet. Their 787s are an average age of 9.5 years old... That is not at all old in this industry. Delta's fleet has an average age of 17 years...
Air India is gonna remain crap till it doesn't get a lot of its new aircraft and it's existing crappy fleet is sent for it's long pending refurbishment I have a friend who flies Dreamliners for Air India and when I asked him how come you guys remain crap, he told me the hard product won't improve till the new planes come in and there are already massive delays. As for the service - I've taken about 7 domestic flights this year on AI & the service + food has been excellent. No doubt, they still have a long way to go.
I would simply point out that your friend’s assessment, which I’d believe to be true, is a choice AI has made. No one is forcing them to not maintain their current fleet- this has been going on literally since AI received their first 787- famously scrapping a fairly new 787 for parts many years ago.
Hi TFFT! My sentiments too. The management should fix these by now! It is high time! I had taken a flight to Dubai from Mumbai on the 787 and it was in terrible shape. broken IFE, seats etc. A very run down and broken cabin feel. To add to it , we boarded on time and then there was a power failure which lead to us sitting in the aircraft for almost 2 hours! I wonder why the pre departure checks were not done. After such delay , the flight took off, and the passengers seated on the bassinet seat row , experienced an unwanted shower, as water leaked from the ceiling on to them while taking off. The food served - I would not feed it to even to any living thing! I completely agree with your sentiment, that having a duopoly is going to be bad for Indian consumers. The GOI and GOS should not have given clearance for merging the airlines. Our only hope is that they allow other smaller airlines to flourish and open up more routes under the bilateral agreements to keep them in check
Why isn’t any of this surprising - you’re exactly right fix the current problems so that people will have confidence in moving forward with the new product but NO- for me it’s ta ta !!! And having anyone sitting next to me smelling of bad BO is worth a self downgrade- all in all I won’t fly them again ever- there are too many choices in aviation these days - great video Kevin ,as always loads of entertainment
I feel that Air India is just beyond fixing at this point because there's no real incentive to do so. Case in point, how this business class seat scenario played out, with everyone playing their part, like good cop & bad cop. The passengers will in most cases, not complain later, so why invest energy, time and money? There is at least one person involved in the chain of command here that knows that by doing nothing, either they will gain something or the airline will. You'd have to probably fire almost everyone to root out an environment that grew into and feels comfortable in this culture of lethargy.
No incentive to do so? Tata quite literally owns the full service aviation market in India. They could turn this airline into a money printing factory if they had the will to do it (well).
Wow, this is horrible on all fronts! And there I thought my worst plane ride was by BA Business or AA First Class. They look like Persian palaces compared to this AI whatever... "chair" class, if I may call it. 😄 Dang it! All my life, I avoided AI like a plague, only this time, I booked my trip to DEL by AI First Class from Toronto because I got a great deal with Aeroplan points. Too late to rectify my mistake.
My only piece of advice is eat before the flight and bring plenty of food on the plane. Watch my video from Newark to Mumbai. Note that my theory about the food in the video has since been confirmed (and First Class and Business have the same food...) ua-cam.com/video/v7jvxTJFeGA/v-deo.html
Well you see, after how the government miss treated Air India, the Tata group is doing their best to bring changes as soon as possible. Imagine taking an airline that has been mishandled for so many decades and trying to change it. It will take time and support and that’s what we should give Air India so they can become way better than what they are.
Well,, Vistara was quite good, but I have never flown Air India, if I remember correctly and probably never will as long as there are alternatives like Etihad or Indigo. Thanks for the update, I was wondering, if Tata could improve anything.
If I was in charge, I would set up some KPIs and have an internal competition. The best airline becomes AirIndia. If current AirIndia is not the winner, they are shut down, the new Air India has option to acquire equipment and or staff. That would have little some fire in the belly.
Good review, having said that kindly stay focused on the main issue, as you spent some time in mentioning history and things that are related to this specific flight, thanks.
I had the exact same issue transiting in Delhi TWICE! When I was going through to Kathmandu and on the way back from Kathmandu. It took about 45 minutes for them to do all these unnecessary verifications. It was like travel purgatory. You’d think a large, newish international airport would have their stuff together and have a proper, expedient transit desk but that isn’t the case.
There isn’t a way around it. They have to verify where you came from and where you’re going with the airlines. Be prepared for plenty of rudeness unfortunately. :(
@ fair enough. I guess it’s a small minority of people that need that many passport pages lol. I’m sure 99% of people would only use less than half of their passports.
IGI is too crowded and outdated to even re build or expand so I believe they are making Noida airport to relive Delhi and shift the passengers same with Mumbai to Navigate Mumbai airport.
This is in stark contrast with the A350s. Probably they are new lets just see how they are maintaining those new ships. If those become like this in 1-2 years, then definitely it will be on Air India and Tata Group. But I also agree to your point that rather buying so many new aircrafts which will take atleast 2-3 years, they could have done atleast some decent level of maintenance of these old aircrafts.
I have flown, in, out and around India - beautiful country, can’t say the same for their aviation sector. Good lord I can still recall the old IGIA - a nightmare. I always wondered if the ponderous system was a left over from the British era? I do miss Kingfisher and Jet - top notch service, especially Jet. There are amazing elements of wealth and at the same time ….. Good video. Food looked good. How the heck to interiors get so worn and dirty? Cheers.
I call it the vacuum effect, as in hoover. Imagine if for the next 10 years, the only thing you used to clean and maintain your house was a vacuum. Nothing else. After 10 years, you'd have a dust free house covered in grime.
One question regarding the beginning of the video; Correct me if I'm wrong - your Nepal Airlines PNR from KTM to DEL was different from the AI PNR from DEL to DXB, right? In such a scenario, doesn't it make sense that you need to enter India and do immigration again? I was of the opinion that international transit was only for cases where you're traveling on the same PNR/on an interline agreement. Just a thought
If you have checked in baggage then yes the PNR ( and airlines moreso) matter and you'd likely need to enter and recheck baggage. But if you have no bags and either 1. already have a mobile boarding pass for your next flight or 2. there is a transit desk for your next airline in the transit area then no the PNRs don't matter. I do this all the time, probably around 10 times so far this year.
Their 787s are in terrible shape at the moment. I just flew from Dubai to Mumbai a few days ago and it honestly seemed like it was falling apart. That said, kudos for finally bringing some iota of decent entertainment options (to be streamed to own device).
Those seats had become non functional since Air India's days being a state run carrier. But after the tata takeover, what tata have tried to do is to bring out more aircraft which were parked and improve the available seat kilometers. Then they have been trying ke keep all those legacy seats in order as much as possible by repairing them. And ofc you have mentioned that they do plan on refurbishing all the cabins of their legacy aircrafts
I would not be flying air India on their existing fleet of long haul planes unless of course it is an A350 for atleast the next 2 to 2.5 years which allows for all their existing product to be refurbished. I have been thinking the same thing about SQ. How are they not embarrassed of being associated with a brand whose execs just don’t seem to care about the state of its existing fleet of planes. SQ recently announced an expansion of its code share agreement with air India which means there will be more destinations where you will be on a sq ticket but an air India product. Choose your flights wisely making sure that you don’t get stuck on a badly maintained air India aircraft!
Since I just rewatched your Air India - Identity Theft video, Kevin, did someone from the airline ever contact you, since you invited them to do so? My guess is 'no'.
Same exact thing happened to me trying to transit through DEL. I flew in on Ethiad and flew out on American to Jfk. When I got to the transit desk, they wouldn't except my boarding pass I printed out and said I should have told them I was transiting. They had to call Ethiad to confirm I flew in and the process took 90 minutes!
@@tfftbeing a brew subscriber on your channel, I just want to know, what is this ruining gag on identity theft?? Just curious.. I saw it being mentioned on a couple of your other videos as well.. If you could redirect me to the relevant trip video, I'd be THRILLED😂😂😂 to see that....
I was having lunch watching your video and then you mentioned "feet". My imagination is so vivid that the food I already have in my system came out. This episode should remind me not to watch anything while having a meal. Cheers Kevin.
@@markfellows74 I am hoping for a complete turnaround by 2026-27. I say this as there's been a little uptick in the number of positive reviews of Air India, especially on their new aircrafts.
Air india is a full service carrier. It's definitely not a cheap option no matter where you are flying from. I fly to the middle East on air india business very often and it's pretty clean. It's just that their equipments are old and hence worn out. But customer service wise, I think it's pretty awesome. It is pretty punctual as well when compared with other arab carriers.
Seems like nothing has changed with TATA taking over. You can't just buy new planes to "improve" an airline, you need to maintain them. Kevin's experience is not much different from my own several years ago on AI 787s. I steer clear of AI for this reason.
Well Noida Jewar Airport near Delhi and NAVI Mumbai Airport designed by Zaha Hadid is opening by April 2025, So Delhi and Mumbai are going to have two new state of the art airports soon and that’s where the new planes will go and that’s how hub they will become mega hubs for indigo and air india, also india is building airports at massive rates around the country 250 airports by end of this decade. Also Bengaluru has already started planning for their new 2nd airport.
That is not the problem. The planes they have are not old, they are simply not taken care of. When you have dirty clothes, you wash them. You don’t go out and buy a new outfit…
Good review. Air India just got approved to retrofit and refurbish the interiors on their own by the Indian aviation authorities few days ago. This should fasten up the refurbishment of the interiors a lot faster than compared to getting it refurbished from just one single company. Though I would like to point out the very poor choice of them refurbishing A320’s before the wide body’s because the A320’s interiors were not bad and never heard a single complain about their A320 interiors. Let’s just hope the interiors are replaced as fast as possible, the crew is amazing along with all the services even in economy. It’s just the sole product itself dragging the entire AI reputation through the mud.
Refurbishing the narrow bodies sooner is a logicistical (and smart) choice. They are in need of more wide body and narrow body aircraft, but if they need to sacrifice capacity on one of them first, surely narrow bodies can absorb the challange easier. This is also the reason why their wide body couldn't possibly go very quickly even if they wanted it to. How many long haul profitable routes are they prepared to cut to speed up the process? They just annouced major capacity reductions on their US routes becuase of aircraft shortages (literally becuase they haven't maintained the aircraf tthey do have) and that doesnt't even factor in retrofitting them.
You could have flown from Delhi to Dubai on Air India's new Airbus A350, which features a stunning new livery. It’s been receiving great reviews, and you can find plenty of videos on UA-cam showcasing its impressive design and features !❤
What is the best way to avoid the transit issue? I just booked a flight for July 2025 and transiting through DEL to SIN. Do I need a visa if I’m coming from the US?
Travelled on November 9, 2024 DXB-DEL still 6 seats are in operable! Still fighting for refund of miles with feedback form Please let me know any method to expedite
You would think that these are old planes but AI has a relatively young fleet. A shame really to see these brand new Dreamliners being neglected, scary to thing if they are being neglected in the safety maintenance aspect too.
Air India and Tata Group should really press Airbus and Boeing to accelerate the deliveries of Widebodies. Also work alongside components Manufacturers to sort things out and carry out Overhauling and Refurbishmeny of Legacy Widebody fleet in service ( Original Timelines were that Legacy Widebodies would go for Refurbishment and Overhauling starting form august but apparently due SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES those timelines have been delayed and Only God knows when cause Everyone in Air India I asked about this said " We are planning start in 2025" )
@@ClemFandango93Last time I asked the same question in Wings India 2024 the AI representative said they aren't worth the money. They had plans of sending these Aircrafts for refit and Overhauling starting from August 24 and entire legacy fleet was supposed to be ready by Feb 26 but since those plans were delayed I don't what the Authorities at Air India will do now
Have you...what does the aircraft cabin smell like when you enter? Last time I flew with Air India, it had a very strong smell....spicy or pungent. Wasn't a fan of it....The best relief for my nose is when I entered Singapore airport LOL. Would like to know what scent every airline uses in their cabin, that would be interesting. ....Apart from that, this needs some real work. Like I knew their old planes were not a fun place to sit, but it looks like it got worse over the years.
The reason indian laws regarding to aviation, tranfer , immigration are so strict because before the 2000s India was subjected to multiple hijack attempts, including fatal ones
@tfft agreed but with the population and number of people moving it becomes difficult, and another reason I forgot is smuggling, of gold and electronics mostly this is a bigger issue while entering India
India has never been accepting (legislatively and culturally) of open competition. The Indian worldview resonates better with oligarchy and/ autocracy. In reality the preference for the latter leads to several systemic weaknesses.
Good observation. It goes back to status quo and not rocking the boat too much. It's very much a tiered society and people in power don't want people moving across tiers. That's why India.. And others of that ilk will never be an economic super power.
AI 787s are in the worst state right now. as an Indian, we only have 2 choices either AI+AiX(tata group) or Indigo, both are worst in their own ways. Akasa is trying to scale up, and Spicejet is trying not to sink. In the Duopoly of Air India grp and Indigo, Indian flyers are gonna be the biggest losers. lack of competitors is going to create a cartel and passenger are gonne be the losers.
A small update that ai started to reburbish these jets and they started with the 320 neos so it possible next time you fly air india you might get a refurbished one tatas have improved the server by alot compared to before(just general no harm i have also been in a similar situation on a 9h and 7h with ai in eco class)
Forgot to mention... No, I didn't get that refund 🤦🏼♂😅 ... Also, I meant to say "Royal Air Force Base" and some how, "US Air Force" came out.
you should drop a mail to Air India. last year i upgraded from economy to the front row of economy and was later told that the infotainment systems were not working. So i was given the option to get my old seat back. followed by a request to just sit in the front row for take off and landing. went on my trip came back after a month and sent a mail explaining the situation. i was easily refunded 30000inr that my family used for upgrade
There must be a business handling refunds that's contracted to all airlines. There is a common thread throughout the industry...
Someone at Air India stole my personal data over the summer and they did absolutly nothing about that, despite me complaining directly to them and publishing a video about it... so, I'm not even going to waste my time trying to pursue the refund.
Meanwhile Air India posting 350 everyday on their instagram stories,
Talking about instagram we need a flip flop instagram account so that maybe we can get some insight and updates about what you are up to. So that maybe I can watch your stories instead of Air India 350.
I hope you disputed the charge on your card
Posting this on Diwali was a smart move. People in india will be too busy celebrating to come and brigade your comment section lol.
Every comment- good or bad- ensures more people see the video (hence the world of rage baiting we live in now…). So, I stand ready for them lol
I am an Indian and I agree with everything in this video. Air India has been terribly slow to upgrade.
Hi, Kevin. Just 20 minutes in transit lounge? Lucky you. Two years ago I had a 9 hour layover from KTM to LHR. I was denied exit from the transit lounge for SIX hours even though I had a boarding pass and a hotel room booked. I "had to wait for Virgin Atlantic staff to come on duty to collect my luggage" even though I didn't want my luggage and it was booked through to LHR. Very rude jobsworthy wouldn't let me through. I was considering flying AI next year to Melbourne. I'm glad I didn't go down that route. By the way my Lufthansa journey took a turn for the worst this morning when they cancelled my SIN to FRA leg. It took me over two hours to sort it out. thanks for brining us another great review as usual.
The merger with Vistara and Air India's aging fleet create challenges in unifying fleet branding and streamlining operations. Repainting and integration will likely take 3-4 years, as updates align with aircraft maintenance. Hopefully all goes well by then.
We can only hope.
It’s not only Hope, it’s happening.
the happening has been going on for 2 years
@@jacintofernandes2907 it takes 2-3 years due to supply chain issues. It’s a global phenomenon also big turnaround can’t happen over a night.
@@jacintofernandes2907 when someone is ordering something like (140-400) brand new aircrafts from manufacturers, they are not going to supply all of them overnight (2-4 years is like overnight in aircraft making business). They won’t want to see their products falling from sky. On the other end, Tatas has to revive, sinking, stinking, rotten business while keeping the business afloat
One of the worst things to happen to the Indian aviation industry is Vistara merging with Air India. Personally, after Kingfisher Airlines, Vistara was the next best FSC.
Now with it being ‘assimilated’ into AI, things would likely be bleak. I’ve loved flying UK, but I can’t say the same about AI - only exception being their A350s.
If I was flying to DXB, it would be Emirates, no doubt! It’s known by us old-school avgeeks in India as the nation’s unofficial flag carrier - EK operates 5 flights out of my home base in Mumbai (including an A380 flight).
I have completely given up on Air India. They simply just dont understand how to clean an aircraft. Period. I have got sick twice with their business class food and i think i know why when i see the state of their aircraft. Thank you for continuing to fly them so i can continue to justify their position on my do not fly list. Great video as always.
Soak in all of this Air India content becuase I'm not doing it again for 2 years, I promised myself 😂
@tfft LMAO I want to see one of those new A350s in 2 years. It'll be filthy I'd bet anything. If you're doing this in 2 years I'll join you on one. Tickets on me :)
They've got like 1001 people all trying to do the same job, and they still fck it up. It's just beaucratic, organisational chaos with some aggro thrown in for good measure.
16:06 that's a sick shot
I comment often on your videos and fly to India often. On my next trip, my business class $$ went to Etihad. I am willing to forgive broken stuff because of how difficult it is to source outdated parts but I am not willing to excuse the cleanliness part. It can be broken but at least clean. Especially considering a group relationship with the Taj hotels, it's unforgivable that they just "gave up" on these interiors until the refurbishment begins.
Agree, it's hard to understand how a company can be so world class in one regard and so blase in others. As for the seats, to my knowledge these seats are still being produced, I know some airlines that received delivery with them as recently as earlier this year- so it's definitely not a problem to get parts for these seats. Not a problem unless you locked the purse up lol.
If you want to come to India then probably I will suggest atleast try the new planes. If you don't find the new A350s then don't try Lol. If you do find the new A350s, then probably it's a must try.
@@asitmishra8431 I've flown it. Don't want to fly a broken 777.
“Soon we were starting to pile up like dishes in a dorm room” 😅😂 It’s not easy being flight crew and on top of just doing your job well, having to be in service recovery mode the whole time…very frustrating, time consuming and embarrassing! I will wait with flying Air India until there will be amore consistent improved product. Thank you for the review 🙏🏼
Yes service recovery mode in and of itself is exhausting. It's like holding an over inflated balloon, knowing it's going to pop, but until it does, you need to pretend everything is okay lol
You make the unbelievable sound believable because it really did happen to you. Thanks for taking one for us Kevin…✈️
Unfortunately, happens a lot with Air India on these planes
Thanks for watching 🩴
Air India's standards were already this bad when the other failed airlines were in competition. I don't see how having more competition will ever spur them to improve.
And part of the reason for this is because the culture of complacency has already taken root when they were consistently bailed out by the government because they were too big to fail.
But hope and $ signs spring eternal for Singapore Airlines. Good luck to them if they can turn things around, but my guess is that they'll be looking to sell AI at a huge loss within the next decade.
Also, if Singapore Airlines can associate themselves so closely with Scoot and not bat an eyelid over their disparate standards and policies, you can be sure that they would have no qualms about their association with AI.
11/10 on that whipped cream piping with the cheesecake!
Credit where it is due 😅
I have not been on Air India for more than 10 years and can see that things haven't changed much despite TATA acquiring the airline and all the promise that came with that. I wrote Air India off when on a business flight i noticed things around the cabin broken, falling apart etc. My thought was " what about the maintenance required to keep the airplane flying" - did that get similar attention to detail? I used Jet Airways, Vistara, Kingfisher and a couple low cost one for short flights in country. The good news is that Air India doesn't show up on Google Flights where i do most of my searching. You are a brave fellow to fly Air India. They may get new airplanes long term but if they don't train their people on customer service - they will still be the same.
Agree their maintenance and service are worst. But still it isn't just only Air India. American and United have even worse service, cabin crew, seats than Air India. Except Delta and JetBlue the rest all US carriers are as worst as Air India.
@@ishaanrevankar492 I rarely fly Delta and never on JetBlue but have logged a couple million miles on United and American. I've also flown on most of the Star Alliance airlines. I have complaints about American and United. So this is a relative rating. I would not put them at the same level as Air India. When I heard that TATA acquired Air India i looked forward to the improvements that was promised. I am looking for another option to fly to India and Air India is a Star Alliance member.
Re Indian aviation, you also forgot to mention IndiGo and their rise. Flew last summer with them (after carefully watching your review from 1y ago or so) from Dubai to Delhi and it was quite good. Okay, they don’t have business but the XL seats are absolutely fine.
I have multiple Indigo videos on the channel.
The transit situation happened to me in 2014 - they used my single entry visa to connect through Delhi and made me apply for a new one at the embassy in Bangkok - lucky for me my passport was still at the embassy when the military overthrew the government in a coup. That was an adventure.
Thanks for sharing ✈️
it baffles me how the Indian government just allows a company to own 4 airlines in a market like india. everytime i wanna take a short flight from my home(VOVZ) to maybe VOHS or VOMM, the prices are just insane most of the times. Very poor regulation in terms of competition in the market. and Air India selling these broken seats for business should be studied lol, all they are dong is just hurting the brand while removing vistara from the spotlight.
Amazing video btw, have been watching your videos for a while and i absolutely love them. keep up this amazing work.
Anything is possible if you have money. The authorities really don't care
@@jayarohith2041 I mean who else would have bought Air India?
What's up with the weird airport codes? Why not just mention VTZ and HYD?
You do realise that the government is the main reason air India is like this. They manhandled Air India not the Tata group. All of a sudden when the government gave up air India everyone is constantly blaming the Tata group for not doing much but you should know it takes time. Yes the prices are high no denying of that but all we need is patience to see how well air India can be brought back from the ashes. Additionally Tata is combing major airlines ( that they all own anyways ) into just two main carriers. If Tata created a good product such as Vistara, I can only imagine how well they’ll transform Air India.
@@jacintofernandes2907 hey i was mentioning the ICAO codes of the airport. apologies, it flew over my head that people outside the aviation industry dont hear them often
Always until the end, including the ads!
Appreciate that!
Kevin... As I have said before you have a great sense of humor and of course that sense of humor has probably saved you more than once. This experience would be a good example of that. Otherwise you would be banging your head against the wall once you finally got to your hotel room.
I don't talk about this much becuase it's hard to explain it concisely without sounding like a true jackass lol... but over the years of doing this, I have more or less trained myself to not care. When I'm at a hotel or I'm on a flight for the sole purpose of making a video, whether it's amazing or it's horrific, that is 100% up to 'them'... I'm just here to show you what happened. Taking that "omg why is this happening to meeeeee" element out of my experiences preserves my sanity haha.
Great video Kevin looking forward to more of the Kangaroo Route flights.
Appreciate that!
Very insightful, thanks!
Thanks Kelvin for another great vlog.
Thanks for watching 🩴
Hi Kevin,
You are 100% correct, I booked my wife on this flight just 2 days ago and she had the same thing to say, inoperable seats and IFE screens, stuck tray tables and dirty cabins the lot, except she didn't have the A Team of flight attendants you did and I am hoping that their restoration can help them improve as they go on.
15:20 will be eagerly waiting for a Dubai to India swimming trip report
I’m actually making a special full length video just for it. Due out on Nov 31.
Best advice from this video - avoid Air India at all costs even the price is dirt cheap. Thank you for sharing
More or less lol
Avoid Air India or avoid India altogether? The ridiculous airport security procedure should be enough to turn everyone off.
@@tghaditrue. Ever since this government took over, everything is nightmarishly complicated
Looking at that gold lamé cushion and the generally cleanliness of the seat, 'dirt' and 'cheap' are very apropos words.
It's not even the cheapest😭
The Man With the Golden Pillow!
I had the impression Air India was a top notch airline. Greetings from Mexico
Sorry to burst your bubble haha :)
Actually they're 2 extremes.. Either it's too good or too bad, no in between... But being an Indian, and frequently flying ai since last 10 years, I can say ai has improved since the takeover by tata... Yes, they're slightly slow in overhauling etc, but they're getting there.....
Early again! always a luxury
Me? or you? lol
@@tfft myself, always seem to find them just as they come out. Always a great video thanks for sharing your journey's.
I really appreciate your content. I know for sure Air India can't just pay you money to shut your mouth like they have done with other Indian UA-camrs and reviewers.
I like your courage and honesty.
I just hope Air India learns from your content.
I knew this was gonna be a good one before I watched the vid. And boy oh boy did you not disappoint 😅
You had me laughing throughout this video, thank you!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😂
Thank You ✈️
Thanks for watching!
Considering SQ picked the guy who is running the airline, i really expected them to be doing a better job. Maybe the ex Turkish airlines chairman Tata was considering might have been a better choice
Yeah, I honestly think it's laughable to think that someone who has previously run a relatively small LCC would be able to manage this behemoth of a task.
@@tfft The smart move would be to get the Vistara lot to take over the reigns now that the merger is complete
the air india 787s were already in a broken state for a long time, so am not surprised at all. but again, air india fares in business are quite competitive for the destinations i fly. like imagine 1 - 1.2k sgd 1roundtrip biz on a A320 vs Singapore airlines charging 2.3k for the same route on 787. At the end of the day, it always comes down to pay less for a inferior product or pay more for a superior product and the wallet makes the decision.
I agree even when Tata bought them they weren't in great condition... but, 9 of 18 seats having something wrong with them? Six fully inop? That's a different level.
Great new report!
Tbh I get it when air India has issues with old fleet but simple things like planes not being clean aren’t acceptable, and from what I’ve observed air India isn’t doing much to repair these broken IFE’s and seats it’ll be a long few years before air India becomes decent
This is the biggest misconception I find in these comments. Air India does not have an old fleet. Their 787s are an average age of 9.5 years old... That is not at all old in this industry. Delta's fleet has an average age of 17 years...
Very helpful information 😊❤
Air India is gonna remain crap till it doesn't get a lot of its new aircraft and it's existing crappy fleet is sent for it's long pending refurbishment
I have a friend who flies Dreamliners for Air India and when I asked him how come you guys remain crap, he told me the hard product won't improve till the new planes come in and there are already massive delays.
As for the service - I've taken about 7 domestic flights this year on AI & the service + food has been excellent.
No doubt, they still have a long way to go.
I would simply point out that your friend’s assessment, which I’d believe to be true, is a choice AI has made. No one is forcing them to not maintain their current fleet- this has been going on literally since AI received their first 787- famously scrapping a fairly new 787 for parts many years ago.
@tfft yes, I agree with you, I've sent your review to him. Hope Tata fixes Air India soon, we deserve a proper full service, global Indian Airline.
Nice coverage
Did you not get to visit the new Encalm Prive Lounge? It’s differentfrom the Encalm lounge next to the air India lounge.
I've been there multiple times, but when the Air India lounge is/was open, that's the lounge Air India uses...
Hey Kevin, a suggestion - include the time of departure/arrival alongside the airport stats. Love the videos!
Time of departure, arrival, speed, altitude and a bunch of other things are in the flight stats in the video…
Kevin, I can't believe you haven't given up on Air India by now.
It's incredible how far a thick skin and low expectations can get you lol
@@tfft and hunger for views as well 😂😂
1:15 Transit without visa was 2023 only for people traveling on the same ticket. if not visa is required.... as a frequent flier, always check
Who said I didn’t have a visa?
Hi TFFT! My sentiments too. The management should fix these by now! It is high time! I had taken a flight to Dubai from Mumbai on the 787 and it was in terrible shape. broken IFE, seats etc. A very run down and broken cabin feel. To add to it , we boarded on time and then there was a power failure which lead to us sitting in the aircraft for almost 2 hours! I wonder why the pre departure checks were not done. After such delay , the flight took off, and the passengers seated on the bassinet seat row , experienced an unwanted shower, as water leaked from the ceiling on to them while taking off. The food served - I would not feed it to even to any living thing! I completely agree with your sentiment, that having a duopoly is going to be bad for Indian consumers. The GOI and GOS should not have given clearance for merging the airlines. Our only hope is that they allow other smaller airlines to flourish and open up more routes under the bilateral agreements to keep them in check
Why isn’t any of this surprising - you’re exactly right fix the current problems so that people will have confidence in moving forward with the new product but NO- for me it’s ta ta !!! And having anyone sitting next to me smelling of bad BO is worth a self downgrade- all in all I won’t fly them again ever- there are too many choices in aviation these days - great video Kevin ,as always loads of entertainment
I feel that Air India is just beyond fixing at this point because there's no real incentive to do so. Case in point, how this business class seat scenario played out, with everyone playing their part, like good cop & bad cop. The passengers will in most cases, not complain later, so why invest energy, time and money?
There is at least one person involved in the chain of command here that knows that by doing nothing, either they will gain something or the airline will.
You'd have to probably fire almost everyone to root out an environment that grew into and feels comfortable in this culture of lethargy.
No incentive to do so? Tata quite literally owns the full service aviation market in India. They could turn this airline into a money printing factory if they had the will to do it (well).
@@tfftThey own the market, hence the lack of incentive. They already got a captive market and they're almost a monopoly.
Ah, never fails to disappoint. That should be their motto. It used to be cheap and/or convenient. It's now neither.
Just look at Germany and Lufthansa where excessive market concentration and no competition leads to.
Wow, this is horrible on all fronts!
And there I thought my worst plane ride was by BA Business or AA First Class. They look like Persian palaces compared to this AI whatever... "chair" class, if I may call it. 😄
Dang it! All my life, I avoided AI like a plague, only this time, I booked my trip to DEL by AI First Class from Toronto because I got a great deal with Aeroplan points.
Too late to rectify my mistake.
My only piece of advice is eat before the flight and bring plenty of food on the plane. Watch my video from Newark to Mumbai. Note that my theory about the food in the video has since been confirmed (and First Class and Business have the same food...) ua-cam.com/video/v7jvxTJFeGA/v-deo.html
Ah yes, the good old seat mate with a case of Bromhidrosis 😅😅😅 Nice 🎉
🤢
I will never fly Air India. Thank you for letting us know thats its worse than a bus.
avoid them, they are scams
Well you see, after how the government miss treated Air India, the Tata group is doing their best to bring changes as soon as possible. Imagine taking an airline that has been mishandled for so many decades and trying to change it. It will take time and support and that’s what we should give Air India so they can become way better than what they are.
Well,, Vistara was quite good, but I have never flown Air India, if I remember correctly and probably never will as long as there are alternatives like Etihad or Indigo.
Thanks for the update, I was wondering, if Tata could improve anything.
Still yet to be seen.
If I was in charge, I would set up some KPIs and have an internal competition.
The best airline becomes AirIndia.
If current AirIndia is not the winner, they are shut down, the new Air India has option to acquire equipment and or staff.
That would have little some fire in the belly.
Good review, having said that kindly stay focused on the main issue, as you spent some time in mentioning history and things that are related to this specific flight, thanks.
The main issue *was* the history- as is the case with all of my Routes & Hubs Series videos. 😉
I facepalmed too many times, my forehead is RED. What a terrible experience.
I had the exact same issue transiting in Delhi TWICE! When I was going through to Kathmandu and on the way back from Kathmandu. It took about 45 minutes for them to do all these unnecessary verifications. It was like travel purgatory. You’d think a large, newish international airport would have their stuff together and have a proper, expedient transit desk but that isn’t the case.
How do you avoid this? I’m going JFK-DEL-SIN next year and don’t want to get held up for my connection
There isn’t a way around it. They have to verify where you came from and where you’re going with the airlines. Be prepared for plenty of rudeness unfortunately. :(
@@patrickd.6249 did you get a transit visa?
@@AnaRebeca no transit visa. I didn’t leave the airport.
1:10 Passport pages are finite...
Kevin - I want to use up as much of my 66 page passport as possible LOL
You wouldn't be saying that if you went through 20 pages per year lol.
@ fair enough. I guess it’s a small minority of people that need that many passport pages lol.
I’m sure 99% of people would only use less than half of their passports.
IGI is too crowded and outdated to even re build or expand so I believe they are making Noida airport to relive Delhi and shift the passengers same with Mumbai to Navigate Mumbai airport.
Thanks for watching 🩴
@@tfft np man keep up the work!
This is in stark contrast with the A350s. Probably they are new lets just see how they are maintaining those new ships. If those become like this in 1-2 years, then definitely it will be on Air India and Tata Group. But I also agree to your point that rather buying so many new aircrafts which will take atleast 2-3 years, they could have done atleast some decent level of maintenance of these old aircrafts.
I have flown, in, out and around India - beautiful country, can’t say the same for their aviation sector.
Good lord I can still recall the old IGIA - a nightmare.
I always wondered if the ponderous system was a left over from the British era?
I do miss Kingfisher and Jet - top notch service, especially Jet.
There are amazing elements of wealth and at the same time …..
Good video. Food looked good.
How the heck to interiors get so worn and dirty?
Cheers.
I call it the vacuum effect, as in hoover. Imagine if for the next 10 years, the only thing you used to clean and maintain your house was a vacuum. Nothing else. After 10 years, you'd have a dust free house covered in grime.
You are a trooper.
KEVIN TRY VISTARA BEFORE IT GETS MERGED WITH AIR INDIA TRY IT BEFORE NOVEMBER 11 BECAUSE ALL VISTARA"S FLIGHT AFTER 11 NOVEMBER WILL NOT BE THERE
There are two vistara videos on my channel already.
One question regarding the beginning of the video;
Correct me if I'm wrong - your Nepal Airlines PNR from KTM to DEL was different from the AI PNR from DEL to DXB, right? In such a scenario, doesn't it make sense that you need to enter India and do immigration again? I was of the opinion that international transit was only for cases where you're traveling on the same PNR/on an interline agreement. Just a thought
If you have checked in baggage then yes the PNR ( and airlines moreso) matter and you'd likely need to enter and recheck baggage. But if you have no bags and either 1. already have a mobile boarding pass for your next flight or 2. there is a transit desk for your next airline in the transit area then no the PNRs don't matter. I do this all the time, probably around 10 times so far this year.
Hey Kevin,
After all that no refund did you call their support line ?
Their 787s are in terrible shape at the moment. I just flew from Dubai to Mumbai a few days ago and it honestly seemed like it was falling apart. That said, kudos for finally bringing some iota of decent entertainment options (to be streamed to own device).
Those seats had become non functional since Air India's days being a state run carrier. But after the tata takeover, what tata have tried to do is to bring out more aircraft which were parked and improve the available seat kilometers. Then they have been trying ke keep all those legacy seats in order as much as possible by repairing them. And ofc you have mentioned that they do plan on refurbishing all the cabins of their legacy aircrafts
Interesting!
I would not be flying air India on their existing fleet of long haul planes unless of course it is an A350 for atleast the next 2 to 2.5 years which allows for all their existing product to be refurbished. I have been thinking the same thing about SQ. How are they not embarrassed of being associated with a brand whose execs just don’t seem to care about the state of its existing fleet of planes. SQ recently announced an expansion of its code share agreement with air India which means there will be more destinations where you will be on a sq ticket but an air India product. Choose your flights wisely making sure that you don’t get stuck on a badly maintained air India aircraft!
How do I do what you do? / what is it you do
Hmm, if you aren't sure of what I do, why do you want to do it...?
@ flying around the world eating and drinking, staying in 5* hotels sounds great….?
Kevin's on! Which means one thing. Honest assessment about to land... Meanwhile
"Piling up like dishes in a dorm room" 🤣🤣
Thanks for watching 🩴
It won't be long until you see how bad the a350 interior would be
Since I just rewatched your Air India - Identity Theft video, Kevin, did someone from the airline ever contact you, since you invited them to do so?
My guess is 'no'.
I'd put it more along the lines of "hell no" haha
Same exact thing happened to me trying to transit through DEL. I flew in on Ethiad and flew out on American to Jfk. When I got to the transit desk, they wouldn't except my boarding pass I printed out and said I should have told them I was transiting. They had to call Ethiad to confirm I flew in and the process took 90 minutes!
Yikes
Which app or website do you use to bid on upgrades?
Delhi NCR will get its 2nd airport at jewar , most T1 cities are getting their 2nd airports respectively.
Airports will be nice, Air India will sadly remain the same
What airline did you find more annoying Qantas or Air India?
Identity theft is more annoying than a downgrade any day of the week... so... Air India lol
@@tfftbeing a brew subscriber on your channel, I just want to know, what is this ruining gag on identity theft?? Just curious.. I saw it being mentioned on a couple of your other videos as well.. If you could redirect me to the relevant trip video, I'd be THRILLED😂😂😂 to see that....
I was having lunch watching your video and then you mentioned "feet". My imagination is so vivid that the food I already have in my system came out. This episode should remind me not to watch anything while having a meal. Cheers Kevin.
I was very gentle with my description lol
What you felt vistara had & Airindia missed apart from maintenance.
I’ve successfully avoided Air India my entire life, and every time I watch a review of them, it reaffirms my life choices. 😂
Happy to keep reaffirming your decisions haha
@@markfellows74 I am hoping for a complete turnaround by 2026-27. I say this as there's been a little uptick in the number of positive reviews of Air India, especially on their new aircrafts.
People travel Air India for cheap prices. THey are not exactly known for their quality or punctuality. You get what you pay for.
Air india is a full service carrier. It's definitely not a cheap option no matter where you are flying from. I fly to the middle East on air india business very often and it's pretty clean. It's just that their equipments are old and hence worn out. But customer service wise, I think it's pretty awesome. It is pretty punctual as well when compared with other arab carriers.
Seems like nothing has changed with TATA taking over. You can't just buy new planes to "improve" an airline, you need to maintain them. Kevin's experience is not much different from my own several years ago on AI 787s. I steer clear of AI for this reason.
Air india recently got DOA CAR 21 approval last week maybe things will change!
I don't think certificaitons are required to keep seats clean and in working order lol
I'll have the mixed regular coke with water seems like a winner LOL
I'm going to dip my french fries in kale and start my new diet.
Well Noida Jewar Airport near Delhi and NAVI Mumbai Airport designed by Zaha Hadid is opening by April 2025, So Delhi and Mumbai are going to have two new state of the art airports soon and that’s where the new planes will go and that’s how hub they will become mega hubs for indigo and air india, also india is building airports at massive rates around the country 250 airports by end of this decade. Also Bengaluru has already started planning for their new 2nd airport.
Sadly, it doesn't change a thing about how bad Air India is
Problem is Air India under TATA won't get the planes it ordered until about 1 1/2 year from now to be able to replace enough of the old jets....
That is not the problem. The planes they have are not old, they are simply not taken care of. When you have dirty clothes, you wash them. You don’t go out and buy a new outfit…
That transit thingy is so frustrating --- to be fair that is usually controlled by the government officials and not the airline.
No, this had nothing to do with government officials, these were Air India staff.
Good review. Air India just got approved to retrofit and refurbish the interiors on their own by the Indian aviation authorities few days ago.
This should fasten up the refurbishment of the interiors a lot faster than compared to getting it refurbished from just one single company.
Though I would like to point out the very poor choice of them refurbishing A320’s before the wide body’s because the A320’s interiors were not bad and never heard a single complain about their A320 interiors.
Let’s just hope the interiors are replaced as fast as possible, the crew is amazing along with all the services even in economy. It’s just the sole product itself dragging the entire AI reputation through the mud.
Refurbishing the narrow bodies sooner is a logicistical (and smart) choice. They are in need of more wide body and narrow body aircraft, but if they need to sacrifice capacity on one of them first, surely narrow bodies can absorb the challange easier.
This is also the reason why their wide body couldn't possibly go very quickly even if they wanted it to. How many long haul profitable routes are they prepared to cut to speed up the process? They just annouced major capacity reductions on their US routes becuase of aircraft shortages (literally becuase they haven't maintained the aircraf tthey do have) and that doesnt't even factor in retrofitting them.
You could have flown from Delhi to Dubai on Air India's new Airbus A350, which features a stunning new livery. It’s been receiving great reviews, and you can find plenty of videos on UA-cam showcasing its impressive design and features !❤
You can also find a video of their A350… on my channel… 😉
Yes Safdarjung airport was an INDIAN Air Force station NOT A US AIR FORCE STATION
Ah, meant to say Royal Air Force and "US" accidently came out.
Yeah I thought the same but I had to point it out fsr
Coddling a few huge conglomerates has been the Indian way of regulating their economy for a long time.
If india wants to compete with dubai, they've got to get serious, which means money and bringing in people that know how to build success.
13:15 Problem relocated!
What is the best way to avoid the transit issue? I just booked a flight for July 2025 and transiting through DEL to SIN. Do I need a visa if I’m coming from the US?
Travelled on November 9, 2024 DXB-DEL still 6 seats are in operable! Still fighting for refund of miles with feedback form Please let me know any method to expedite
You would think that these are old planes but AI has a relatively young fleet. A shame really to see these brand new Dreamliners being neglected, scary to thing if they are being neglected in the safety maintenance aspect too.
Air India and Tata Group should really press Airbus and Boeing to accelerate the deliveries of Widebodies.
Also work alongside components Manufacturers to sort things out and carry out Overhauling and Refurbishmeny of Legacy Widebody fleet in service ( Original Timelines were that Legacy Widebodies would go for Refurbishment and Overhauling starting form august but apparently due SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES those timelines have been delayed and Only God knows when cause Everyone in Air India I asked about this said " We are planning start in 2025" )
Sure, but slow aircraft deliveries have nothing to do with not taking care of the aircraft they already have.
…or they could just do the bare minimum and take care of/clean their existing aircraft?
@@ClemFandango93Last time I asked the same question in Wings India 2024 the AI representative said they aren't worth the money. They had plans of sending these Aircrafts for refit and Overhauling starting from August 24 and entire legacy fleet was supposed to be ready by Feb 26 but since those plans were delayed I don't what the Authorities at Air India will do now
Have you...what does the aircraft cabin smell like when you enter? Last time I flew with Air India, it had a very strong smell....spicy or pungent. Wasn't a fan of it....The best relief for my nose is when I entered Singapore airport LOL. Would like to know what scent every airline uses in their cabin, that would be interesting. ....Apart from that, this needs some real work. Like I knew their old planes were not a fun place to sit, but it looks like it got worse over the years.
The reason indian laws regarding to aviation, tranfer , immigration are so strict because before the 2000s India was subjected to multiple hijack attempts, including fatal ones
Something that is in no way unique to India...
@tfft agreed but with the population and number of people moving it becomes difficult, and another reason I forgot is smuggling, of gold and electronics mostly this is a bigger issue while entering India
India has never been accepting (legislatively and culturally) of open competition.
The Indian worldview resonates better with oligarchy and/ autocracy.
In reality the preference for the latter leads to several systemic weaknesses.
Good observation. It goes back to status quo and not rocking the boat too much. It's very much a tiered society and people in power don't want people moving across tiers. That's why India.. And others of that ilk will never be an economic super power.
AI 787s are in the worst state right now. as an Indian, we only have 2 choices either AI+AiX(tata group) or Indigo, both are worst in their own ways. Akasa is trying to scale up, and Spicejet is trying not to sink. In the Duopoly of Air India grp and Indigo, Indian flyers are gonna be the biggest losers. lack of competitors is going to create a cartel and passenger are gonne be the losers.
A small update that ai started to reburbish these jets and they started with the 320 neos so it possible next time you fly air india you might get a refurbished one tatas have improved the server by alot compared to before(just general no harm i have also been in a similar situation on a 9h and 7h with ai in eco class)
Instead of expanding IGI Int'l, they're building a much bigger airport in Noida...