Right - with FRA shutdown with weather delays .. thats happened before. And you mean you havent ever been misconnected in a third country, or have your car breakdown for no fault of yours, or something? Planes, like cars, do break down sometimes you know.

If you really want to avoid having a schengen visa around (safe to have one, as I said- even on AI's "one stop", fly direct to the USA - you have your choice of American, Delta, Continental that do 14 hour nonstops without a stop in the EU. Or fly Singapore Airlines or Malaysian Airlines - they give indian nationals transit visas.

Your corporate travel desk, like most other corporate travel desks in India.. TCS, CTS etc - is probably the usual variety of Indian corporate TA with arrogant attitudes .. from not having their bills paid by the people who are approaching them to get ticketed, instituting vague and highly bureaucratic procedures, trying to sell accompanying spouses overpriced travel insurance on the side etc. Or they'd have advised you of this... if you needed the advice in the first place, to take what appears to me an eminently sensible precaution.

If you're somewhere in transit through a third country - keep a transit or entry visa for it handy though you nominally may not need one. Especially in winter.