Yes, but would you declare yourself unfit for command/operation if you knew that it would likely cause retaliatory action, like the loss of the job?

Thats what Im saying... you can and must refuse and if you have the self confidence then you will not lose. AFAIK, there is short term retaliation in terms of harssment, bad rostering etc but not, to my knwoledge, that level of retaliation. I could be wrong, of course, but colleagues at AI/IC tend to agree. In any case, terminating an expat Commanders shprt term contract is very very expensive for any airline so the concerned manager(s) would have a lot of explaining to do..as they would if they simply replaced one expat pilot type rated and with experience of the airline with another, without reason.

Ah, but remember, this is a pilot who was already scared of his superiors because of the "hard landing" which he had done earlier. He probably thought that the hassle of declaring was not worth it.

In that case, maybe his skills were not up to par, anyway?

Did you miss the part about the landing g's of the so-called "hard landing" being well within acceptable tolerances?

Furthermore in tricky / short runway situations, pilots at the better airlines are told to put the aircraft down firmly towards the start of the runway, rather than "float along" aiming for a soft landing.

Right, exactly, the quotations marks were around the words hard landing for a reason. It was hard, but not so hard that it wouldn't be safe.

Tweets from a friend who just flew JFK-DEL-CCU on AI in business class yesterday:

"why can't we maintain a schedule... AI flt from NY left JFK 2 1/2 hour late as they were 'refueling'!!! even though the aircraft was at the gate from 3 pm the flt left at 730 instead of 5!!! just lackadaisical attitude... in Delhi ran to the departure gate only to find no AI staff ... staff came at 730 and boarding started at 745 for the 8 pm departure!!! naturally flt is late...Public money so who cares!!!"

"My point is that there is very little interest in the staff to stick to the schedule... The issue here is man made...they can easily improve this situation..."

"I was traveling executive class... Still I had to board with economy passengers as AI staff didn't even announce the standard priority boarding..."

"Thereafter a 1 hr wait for baggage at Kolkata (while other airlines got their baggage) and of course, the unfriendly staff of air india, if ur lucky to find them. No wonder it is on the verge of being sold."

Sold...yeah but the big question is who'll buy them???:confused:
It's one thing refinancing the debt they have, but to deal with the staff? Unions?...I doubt Air India will get sold...it'll probably shut down before it gets sold...

Nothing wrong with running on IST :D

That is professionally irresponsible.. ..Poor chap, he paid the price though, lets leave it there.

This part of it is true sometimes. AI's phone reps routinely suggest people to buy from travel agents since the TA's have consolidator's pricing which can often be lower.

Same is true with EK. I recently called EK for a ticket pricing since the web site was quoting an unusually high fare, but the customer service rep told me to approach a TA for a lower price.

Well I hate to say it but looks like this thread's gone too far as well. All I can say is folks love AI and hate AI and then they're those who think AI is comparable to their MILs.

One can parse together a list of problems such as delayed departures, delayed luggage, running to the gate to find the flight is delayed etc, with almost any airline, however good it might be.
In any case, this thread isn't about "Air India sucks", or about how good Air India is, for not one has claimed the latter neither do I understand why certain posters insist on posting the former. :rolleyes:
It's almost as if it's they are paid to do it. :D

Didn't BJP Govt try selling it in the late 90's or early 2000?
Congress/UPA isn't interested in selling it.
Buyers demand terms that they don't get elsewhere, such as a majority stake in the airline. While I am not opposed to foreign ownership of majority stake, not many countries allow it outside of EU.
Govt entities, often deservedly so, especially in India are easy scapegoats for people. Ever heard of "close enough for Govt work" in the bastion of capitalism? Honest people don't think once before cheating the Govt. With AI the problem is compounded by Indian work ethics.

Air India should be black-listed by EU/USA
 

After reading the extra-ordinary first hand accounts regarding the sloppy and inefficient manner in which this joke of an airline is operated, one wonders why it is not black-listed by EU/US. Airlines with similar infractions have been black-listed or denied landing rights.

I just came back after a quick trip to the US. My normal carrier is EK but due to the very short notice travel and with no seats available elsewhere, flew on AI MAA-DEL-JFK and back. Based on my experience of just this one trip, I wouldn't mind flying AI again. Apart from minor delays, everything worked with pretty good in flight service in Y. Now, if I could choose my fellow passengers, that would be perfect :)