sadiqhassan

Just flew last sunday, and was overall a mixed experience. The new 77W had (perhaps, unfairly) inflated my expectations and I was expecting an excellent product compared to the likes of AC/BA who also fly this route.

- Lounge in LHR is atrocious. No wifi or computers, no bathroom (there's a shared one down the hall.) Newspaper selection was ok, and there was some hot food available (didn't taste very good and seemed to be re-heated meals from the plane) as well as cold Indian snacks which were quite good.

- Boarding has no separate F/J line but a man occasionally came to the line and ushered F/J pax to the front. F/J pax were never invited to board (instead they were calling out rows of Y) but we boarded anyway.

-The plane was packed in Y without almost everyone coming in from DEL (makes sense for them to operate a nonstop then!) No-one was in F, which was surprising as I had originally wanted to sample F but there were 3 of us and I could only get 2 seats confirmed not 3. Load in J was 11/42.

-Cabin was showing its age (??!!?). The 777-300ER is very new but the seats were worn and very dirty. I did a little clean up, removing rice and other matter before sitting down.

-Seat was very good. Excellent legroom (I think best I've seen on a carrier with forward facing J seats). Seat was also good for lounging as well as sleeping (which is rarely the case nowadays)

Most of the seat was fully flat / parallel to the ground except for the legrest. However, the seat was still very comfortable and I was able to sleep for about four hours. The pillow was OK but the blanket was small and had static. The headphones were awful; I had read in previous TRs about getting Bose headphones, but I guess this is only on nonstop India - USA flights. Instead we got Y class style over ear ones that literally snapped while I was wearing them.

- Power ports were available and worked well.

- Cabin crew were good, a bit more intrusive than I am used to, but this is probably due to cultural differences than anything else. I was asked if I wanted to eat; I said no, but was repeatedly asked (in a nice way, though) if I was sure even though I was clearly trying to get some work done.

- IFE had about four or five English selections, many of which I have never heard of, and about a dozen hindi selections (but nothing recent - all old films). TV selection was rather poor as well. The moving map display did not work on this flight and the whole system was slow and unresponsive.

- Menu was as follows:

The food was pretty good, but was served Y class style all in one tray. No china was used.

Overall, I found the AI experience to be quite underwhelming. The flight wasn't bad, but I was expecting a lot more from the new 77W product. Considering the price I paid (less than half of BA/AC and less than BA WT+) the product was not bad - especially the bed - but if I wanted a true J service with all the trimmings I would look somewhere else.

B747-437B

This is a problem with the Air India 777 fleet. I flew on an aircraft barely 6 weeks old last year and it was falling apart. IFE screens were scratched, seats were torn, lots of scuff marks everywhere. Most passengers treated the aircraft atrociously - stuff like poking pens at the IFE touchscreens, etc... which is the cause of the problems.

Keyser

nice report sadiqhassan....

snod08

Thanks for the TR! Always interesting to read about AI 777 experiences. They flaunt that aircraft for sure as the star of their fleet.


This is just incredible!!

d3vski

i feel sorry for air india in a weird sort of way. Their passengers really abuse the aircraft! some of the stuff they do is bordering criminal damage!

Keyser

unfortunately some of the times this is true....

yulred

Interesting. I had a relatively similar experience on my last flight.

The lounge was underwhelming but the food was good. I must confess that I only wandered into the lounge for 5 minutes to grab a quick bite. Spent the rest of the time sitting in a bar in the waiting area so that I could watch some football.

The flight itself was excellent. I didn't have any issues with the seat or upkeep - it was all clean and properly maintained. Magazines and everything were all in place. I'm not surprised that you didn't get much sleep, since it is a day flight (unless you were coming in from India). I usually manage two hours on that route on a day flight. However, on the YYZ LHR run, I usually manage a pretty deep 5-6 hr sleep (depending on duration). I usually skip the dinner - generally tend to avoid catering ex-YYZ. It is uniformly bad on all airlines in all classes.

The crew was extremely polite and not particularly intrusive. My biggest grip was the poor selection of movies and tv shows on IFE. Some of the english movies were hidden away in the French/German section. AC is better in this regard.

The food was good, but the service structure on one of the later (~3 pm departures) was a bit odd. They served a snack first, and dinner later. I would have preferred a full meal first. The headphones, incidentally, were not economy class style, nor Bose. They were pretty generic airline noise cancelling headphones, not unlike the ones used by Jet in long-haul business.

As for comparisons with AC/BA, AI isn't competing with AC, which offers a hybrid business/first at a significantly higher cost. AI's J model is similar to LH and UA, with a cheaper and more basic J product and an expensive and luxurious F product. In pure value-for-money, I would rate AI's offering the best on the route. My business ticket cost only a couple of hundred dollars more than AC's economy class ticket. Pity they are leaving the market. With regard to catering, I would have to say AI J was far superior to AC J. That may simply be a reflection of the poor catering coming out of most Canadian international airports. AC food is remarkably bland. BA is hit or miss - you can get really good food, and really awful food.

All in all, I was quite happy with AI. That said, 9W's J product is in a different league from AI -in fact, its far superior to AC and BA's premium products. Its almost an F product in terms of service and hardware, and I would strongly recommend them on transatlantic routes, if you ever get the chance.

yulred

Also, I noticed you said they didn't use china ware. The servings were in J class style 'containers', but they were definitely made of porcelein. I know this for a fact because I accidentally dropped one of the smaller bowls (thankfully, it didn't shatter). Y class tends to be in foil and plastic.

sadiqhassan

I was coming from Pakistan (flew KHI-DXB-LHR on EK). However, I meant to say four hours was very good, much more than I was expecting to get.



Again, I agree. My ticket was a few hundred $ less than BA WT+ so, on a value for money standpoint, AI cannot be beat.


Cheers,

B747-437B

My parents flew YYZ-LHR last night and my mother claimed she slept on a night flight better than she has in years (she's flown a few million miles over the last 50 years so this is high praise indeed). I guess the seat comfort is doing something right. I'm personally not a fan though.

Keyser

very true....

sadiqhassan

Isn't the J seat on 9W (almost) identical to the AC J seat?

9W is on my short list of airlines to try; however, I never need to go to BRU (usually LHR or ZRH) and almost never need to go to India. Hopefully soon though!

d3vski

If you can not think of a reason to go to India then you can use Jet to go from LHR to HKG/SIN/BKK via BOM. Very reasonable fares and convinient connections onwards from in both directions.

I would say the BKK connection is a good one to try all of Jets different products. You can get the overnight LHR to BOM on the 77W flat bed and then transfer to the 1pm(ish) B737 2x2 regional seat (perfectly adequate for a 3hr day flight.

As BKK is twice daily from BOM, you can choose to leave LHR in the morning or evening and vice versa with the arrival.

I think you only have to spend a max 90 minutes in BOM in both directions. By the time you complete the security check, head for the lounge to have a quick drink and a samosa, you are heading back to the gate.

BOM is a reasonable place to transfer intl to intl.

yulred

It is and it isn't. The standard design is the same, but the 9W seat feels a bit wider, not that it makes much difference. Service on 9W is still improving, but the hard product vs AC is a lot better - pjs in J, real champagne and a Bulgari amenity kit (with Bulgari contents) that is far more usable/reusable than the cheap plasticky stuff that AC sometimes tries to pass off as an amenity kit on AC. However, if you re adventurous, and appreciate AC's constantly changing plastic amenity kits, then 9W with its consistent, albeit high quality, offering will be a bit of a disappointment.

Apparently 9W has, on occassion, used its regional A332s on the Toronto route (probably a reflection of the low demand for J ex-YYZ - the Canadian Indian population isn't anywhere as affluent as its brethren south of the border), so you could very well end up with a product not dissimilar to AC's old J. Thankfully, I haven't had that experience, neither has anyone I know. However, it remains a possibility, so you have been warned. I suspect you would be better off flying them transatlantic from the US (if such a situation should arise). I think their ex-JFK and ex-EWR get the longhaul configured A332s for sure.

9W does outdo AC on catering ( in every class) and general presentation, if you are into that. After a slightly unsteady start, the cabin crews are also beginning to show the professionalism and maturity that legacy carriers are known for (or rather, claim to offer). AC's crews tend to be one of the better crews, the odd misfit notwithstanding, and 9W is beginning to match them, which is more than even I, a complete 9W loyalist, would be willing to state 2 years ago.

sadiqhassan

That's generally what I've heard from people who have flown both 9W and AC in J, the hard product is similar but the soft product on 9W >> AC