Flight Review Thread - Air India
Dec 18, 2022, 11:52 pm
#391
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: BLR
Programs: AA - EXP, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, UK - Gold
Posts: 1,226
Flew ORD-DEL in J earlier this week. Seats are of course the crappy angled seats, but they worked. IFE is slow and dated, but it worked (even the map). Flight attendants are neither the aunties of yore nor the very young and eager but inexperienced people I saw earlier this year. Rather they were thirtyish, experienced, attentive staff.
There is still no menu, only verbally listed items---the usual 2x2=4 items (veg/nonveg, Indian/western). I didn't find the food to be any better than edible, but it was not much worse than many other airlines that are not QR.
Perhaps the worst aspect was how they turned on the bright lights halfway through the flight to serve the second meal (they did agree to hold it for later but I would rather not have had to wake up at all). Otherwise, a good flight.
There is still no menu, only verbally listed items---the usual 2x2=4 items (veg/nonveg, Indian/western). I didn't find the food to be any better than edible, but it was not much worse than many other airlines that are not QR.
Perhaps the worst aspect was how they turned on the bright lights halfway through the flight to serve the second meal (they did agree to hold it for later but I would rather not have had to wake up at all). Otherwise, a good flight.
Dec 20, 2022, 2:45 am
#392
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
AI still has significant advantages, including better connections both ways for those not staying in DEL, and the ability to fly over Russia. Plus typically lower fares (UA J fares are obscene). I have not found UA food to be anything to write home about, and their FAs are the american version of AI's late unlamented aunties. The seat is better, of course.
Dec 21, 2022, 1:31 am
#394
Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 48,188
Aircraft stay well clear of potential war zones, especially after MH 17 was shot down by separatists in 2014. The insurance companies make sure no airline goes rogue 
An example: https://ops.group/blog/ukraine-russi...isks-nov-2022/
The FAA only advises tho avoid the Rostov, Samara and Moscow FIR on top of the already red zones near UA:
If you look the at the westbound AI 1xx flights they all stay well clear.
An example: https://ops.group/blog/ukraine-russi...isks-nov-2022/The FAA only advises tho avoid the Rostov, Samara and Moscow FIR on top of the already red zones near UA:
If you look the at the westbound AI 1xx flights they all stay well clear.
Dec 27, 2022, 4:28 am
#397
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold, Marriott & SPG Plat, Hilton Gold, ShangriLa Jade, Enterprise Plat, Taj Gold
Posts: 3,347
IMHO the AI soft product (in J or F) is better than UA J. However the hard product leaves a lot to be desired. I think AC is more-or-less similar to UA but I haven't flown AC long haul. On UA (and probably AC as well) you'll get (way) better seats, way better IFE and WiFi etc. That makes it hard to recommend AI F which would be significantly more expensive.
Also what do you mean by "DEL - JFK from Europe"! Are you going to board the plane like James Bond or Ethan Hunt!
Last edited by PiperAtGatesofDawn; Dec 27, 2022 at 4:34 am
Dec 27, 2022, 9:38 am
#398
Join Date: May 2004
Location: US
Programs: UA Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 973
Nothing I said is news. AI longhaul J is unchanged under Tata except for better FAs.
AI still has significant advantages, including better connections both ways for those not staying in DEL, and the ability to fly over Russia. Plus typically lower fares (UA J fares are obscene). I have not found UA food to be anything to write home about, and their FAs are the american version of AI's late unlamented aunties. The seat is better, of course.
AI still has significant advantages, including better connections both ways for those not staying in DEL, and the ability to fly over Russia. Plus typically lower fares (UA J fares are obscene). I have not found UA food to be anything to write home about, and their FAs are the american version of AI's late unlamented aunties. The seat is better, of course.
Dec 27, 2022, 1:01 pm
#400
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 155
Except for IFE, AI F is superior to UA Polaris in every other aspect. AI J is inferior to UA Polaris, mainly because the hard product is extremely dated and often in disrepair.
Dec 28, 2022, 4:54 pm
#401
Join Date: Jun 2022
Programs: EuroBonus
Posts: 39
If you are flying J, yes may be UA is better overall. But for those flying in economy, AI is better. Good comfortable seats, excellent food (better than any other airline flying from India, including EK or QR or SQ), IFE is lacking compared to UA (but for those who want Hindi and regional language movies AI is better, UA does not have any regional movies and Hindi movies are limited), but the FA's are now better in AI than in UA (who believe in doing the bare minimum)..
At the moment I have J in polaris and also J in air Canadas B787 on my trip, so would be fun to try it out. Would be nice om homebound to try AI F but i have reached my maximum 8 segments.
Dec 28, 2022, 5:17 pm
#402
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,135
If you are flying J, yes may be UA is better overall. But for those flying in economy, AI is better. Good comfortable seats, excellent food (better than any other airline flying from India, including EK or QR or SQ), IFE is lacking compared to UA (but for those who want Hindi and regional language movies AI is better, UA does not have any regional movies and Hindi movies are limited), but the FA's are now better in AI than in UA (who believe in doing the bare minimum)..
Dec 28, 2022, 5:29 pm
#403
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 155
My last flight with them, in 2019, was in J and that was a decent flight except for the angled flat seat. That said, under the new Tata management things are better, from what I heard.
Dec 28, 2022, 11:25 pm
#404
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold, Marriott & SPG Plat, Hilton Gold, ShangriLa Jade, Enterprise Plat, Taj Gold
Posts: 3,347
Thank you. I would fly LHR-DEL-EWR and its on award and not paid money. For me it would only be around 5000 EuroBonus points more to fly F one way vs J.
At the moment I have J in polaris and also J in air Canadas B787 on my trip, so would be fun to try it out. Would be nice om homebound to try AI F but i have reached my maximum 8 segments.
At the moment I have J in polaris and also J in air Canadas B787 on my trip, so would be fun to try it out. Would be nice om homebound to try AI F but i have reached my maximum 8 segments.
My additional recommendation to you - to enjoy a full first class experience would be to take a flight to Mumbai (there are many many through the day) and take the BOM - EWR in AI F from there. The lounge situation in DEL is currently all messed up and who knows when it will get resolved for the better (especially for AI pax since there is a very very ordinary AI lounge there that seems likely to stay). BOM's F lounge is significantly better than any Polaris lounge. And it would be a great start to a F experience.
Dec 30, 2022, 8:28 am
#405
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: BA Gold, AA Platinum, SQ Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 1,582
Lil off topic.
I don't have any plans on flying AI anytime soon. My experience is only from 2 domestic flights I took on AI recently.
Flight 1: DEL- BLR: The staff somehow forgot to put the flight information on screen and we had to go to AI lounge to find the boarding gate number. The only food option they had in the flight was Pasta & chocolate (my parents couldn't eat anything in flight).
Flight 2: BLR - DEL: The only food option this time was noodles & chocolate. This time we were smarter and ate at the airport before boarding.
Lot of people went hungry in both the flights coz noodles / pasta is inedible food for a lot of people in India.
i can't get what's wrong with AI to think it's OK to have Pasta/Noodles as only food option on domestic flights.
Staff is generally courteous.
I don't have any plans on flying AI anytime soon. My experience is only from 2 domestic flights I took on AI recently.
Flight 1: DEL- BLR: The staff somehow forgot to put the flight information on screen and we had to go to AI lounge to find the boarding gate number. The only food option they had in the flight was Pasta & chocolate (my parents couldn't eat anything in flight).
Flight 2: BLR - DEL: The only food option this time was noodles & chocolate. This time we were smarter and ate at the airport before boarding.
Lot of people went hungry in both the flights coz noodles / pasta is inedible food for a lot of people in India.
i can't get what's wrong with AI to think it's OK to have Pasta/Noodles as only food option on domestic flights.
Staff is generally courteous.