air india gets you into mel in 12 hours compared to 16:10 on cathay, 16:35 on malaysian and 17:55 on singapore with their fastest connection. while cathay and malaysian will depart late at night and arrive at night, singapore is a morning departure and gets you in an hour after air india. i personally feel the air india timing is fantastic. you depart at a very comfortable time from india, get to sleep for a good amount of time and get in early enough to make the most of the day in mel, which though singapore is also offering, the extra 5:55 is just not worth it for me, when a direct flight is giving you the same benefit.

yes all other factors considered sq looks better on paper, and frequent flier miles are also very important, but coming from a person who does 50 pressurisation cycles a month in an aircraft, this direct flight is way too good to compare with anything else. all i will do i sleep in the flight than spend 4:50 at singapore airport. and the dreamliner apparently has better cabin comfort so you do arrive fresher.

i will be flying this route in january on air india. i will be reviewing it then for sure.