Richklhs

I just posted my trip report: http://first2board.com/thepointsjock...n-first-class/


Overall, definitely not on par with the other true First class products offered out there. However, it was a fun adventure and a flight I will not forget.
Seat was old, scuffed, and thin in the bum area for only being 7 years old.

Cabin was quite secluded with only 4 seats and a bulkhead separating the rest of the plane

Bedding was nothing to speak of, PJs were comfy, but pillow was misicule and covered in a stick faux silk. No amenity kit

Lets just say the food was an adventure as well!

Service was definitely willing but not polished by any means. I was the only F passenger and thus had two attendants to myself the entire 14.5 hours. They were kind, courteous, and genuine but lacked any formal service training.
Coach was oversold by two, so they were strapped in the flight attendant's jumpseats, shoulder straps and all passed out asleep.
Economy had a good, relaxed cocktail party like atmosphere. A lot of people up and about, having lively conversations in the galley areas. There were self service food and beverage carts with little sandwiches and cookies. They were all really concerned when I was back there.

Bottom line - spend your miles on the classic F class experience unless you want something different, this is the place for you. Ground service was excellent with 3 employees meeting me at my arrival gate, escorting me through transfers to the lounge. 2 more handlers then took me from the lounge to boarding, parting the extra security sea at the gate and holding boarding until I was at my seat. A lot of stares and curious looks my way though, haha. It was interesting.

Lounge was lacking, wifi didn't work, no one told me there was food and a bar on the business class side, cold shoulder service. Nice decoration though.

JVPhoto

Thanks for posting! Went through and read it on your blog this morning. With AI joining *A I too the other day was looking at their site and F and also poking around at award dates.
Love the amount of escorts you got! As I was reading I was thinking of asking if you may have noticed any service differences between yourself (Westerner...assuming, I saw a pic of your legs/skin in the shorts) and Indian pax...but you were the only one in F and then you mentioned that the FAs were very attentive and trying to do their best for you.

injian

Thanks for the TR. Really nice to see an exceptional ground service.

fly747first

AI should just get rid of its F product, as it is not at all competitive and the demand for it clearly isn't there.

SFO777

Thanks for taking one for the team.
I was toying with trying Air India First Class this past week on the same AI flight on my return from CMB.
In the end, I had to make do with SQ2 and Singapore First.

Joely

Those ketchup sachets are classy.

JVPhoto

At least they are airline branded.

hawklx

Thanks for posting this TR. Went to your blog to read it.
Very interesting to read an airline which doesn't get much attention here. I am sure there will be more of AI reports now that they are in *A.

Richklhs

I think it would be hard to see how the crew could have given any better service given their tools. That thought never crossed my mind during the flight.

steveman518

Spotted the yellow FT tag!

Thunderroad

Read your TR over at your blog link. A fun and very informative post! Thanks for sharing this.

stargold

Interesting report - it's such a shame that the food service looks like barely J class standard, because the hard product looks just fine and the service is apparently exemplary. But I suppose they can only put so much money into such a sparsely used product. It's a vicious circle - the less people who pay for F, the less they can afford to pay towards the F product, which in turn makes it less likely that people will pay for F, and so on...

Thank you for showing me a flight which - although never say never - I don't anticipate ever travelling on!

Richklhs

Thanks for being a team player!

Richklhs

I try and represent^

thestallion123

Thanks for posting. There are not too many AI trip reports on FT.