PiperAtGatesofDawn

TL;DR -

Largely the same except:

• the food quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Still veg in Y but the quality is now really really good. Yes I think it's that fresh and that good.
• their integration with *A for FFPs has got worse. For the last several years you could not add your non-AI FFP while booking your ticket even on the AI website, then you couldn't while doing your web check-in. And now even at the counter check-in they could not get my SQ *G status. And that was a massive pain because I had my 20kgs extra luggage. I had to spend an hour at the check-in desk shouting at the staff. They tried to call the AI boss at the airport but that guy refused to come from his office. I think he knew that this doesn't work and he didn't care to get yelled at or do anything. Finally since it was time for my flight to take off they checked in my luggage by manually editing the total weight but keeping the piece count the same! Something they could have done 20 minutes into me waiting there I guess.

Anyways so that's where we are with the AI now. Anyone with similar/different experiences?

Keyser

Have taken a couple of flights since the changeover happened but I haven't noticed any difference so far. Have a few more coming up over the next few months but I don't expect there to be any major changes for a while.

PiperAtGatesofDawn

Not even the food? Was I lucky to get it that fresh because that's all that AI was making for the whole week?

Keyser

Both flights I've taken recently were short flights so the food served was more like a snack as opposed to a proper meal. Have a DEL-BBI & DEL-BOM flight coming up soon so hopefully will get to sample the proper meal this time.

oliver2002

The food service has been restored to prepandemic service levels and some condiments replaced with Tata branded stuff. Bloggers and twitter posts with pictures don't really show a big difference to what AI used to serve pre pandemic. I get the feeling they desparately are trying to find something that has changed...

PiperAtGatesofDawn

I would disagree. In the 2 flights that I've taken - I feel that the quality, taste & freshness has hugely improved and is much better than what AI did pre-Covid. On my flights they actually served very tasty food. I don't remember the last time I said that about an AI flight.

oliver2002

AI, like any other airline, specifies what food is to be catered. Taj SATS did the catering for AI ex India even before the privatisation. If SATS decided to make it more 'tasty' its very subjective.

SeeBuyFly

The quality of the food is simply a function of how much AI pays the catering company per meal. Increasing the amount paid is an easy quick fix that generates publicity. Cleanliness, punctuality, efficiency, staff attitude, better J seats in long haul...those will take longer. Meanwhile, as they continue to lose big money, at some point they will quietly cut back on food costs.

Wandering_Indian

Flew with them internationally a week back and there is literally no change. *A FF of another airline cannot be added on booking and now (for a few years) even during web check-in but had no issues getting it added at the airport at the check-in counter. Their check-in still takes an age to complete and they are still as inefficient. They still give a hand written lounge card and their staff on the ground is still as friendly and intend to be as helpful as they were (this isn't sarcasm, I truly mean it).

Once on board the flight (a B788), the AC was not functioning while on the ground and took more than 45 minutes after take off to cool the cabin. So same old, same old.

Did not have the onboard meal as it was a short flight so can't comment on the meal but I have had some really good food on AI as well in the past.. Their J domestic meal on the DEL-BOM sector in the 9 PM flight that goes from DEL-BOM-EWR as well as their J domestic meal on the 7.45 PM BOM-DEL flight that flies onward to HKG (I guess) have been some of the better meals that I have had in the air purely taste wise..

Overall I could not notice any change at all after the Tata takeover..

HMPS

That is disheartening!
Am seriously considering ORD BOM on AI. Was hoping service on ground & air would have been improved "ten fold" . Will keep tacking, may have to go back to QR.

hyho61

Really !! I had the opposite experience, my UA *G was already in the reservation and I had no trouble checking in my 2 bags on the domestic flight from DEL.

I have no complaints regarding AI, only observation is that they are too generous on the amount of food they serve on 2 hour flights. They even had the non-veg option this time. They need to cutback to survive.

SeeBuyFly

Any recent experiences of ULH flights? My last experience in J to the USA, from several years ago, was awful; so improving the service should be low-hanging fruit. Anyway, there are absolutely no reports either here or elsewhere on the web.

SeeBuyFly

I am answering my own question. Took ORD-DEL in J. The plane is old and ratty, several seats did not work even after 'rebooting' by FAs, and could not even be moved manually.

On the other hand, the staff were younger and much more eager to please than on my previous trip (maybe 8 years ago). Maybe the aunties have been fired? Also the food was quite good, and courteously served in stages from carts like the AI of the 1970s. It's not Qatar by any means, and the schedule (one meal after boarding, one meal midflight, then nothing more) is peculiar although admittedly CX was also doing it at some point. Still, he offered to hold the second meal until close to the end of the flight, so it was sort of unofficial dine on demand. Not bad for AI.

If they could acquire some modern seats, they might be quite competitive. Right now because of high demand prices are high even on AI, but in the longer term they will still have to cut prices to sell J tickets if they don't invest in the hard product.

chanp

I need to do some trip reports, but thought I'd give my feedback on AI and UK, domestically and intl. I know this is a AI thread, but I was quite happy with AI, considering the price and direct flights.

I'd rank AI J over UK J intl and UK J over AI J domestically.

I did UK and AI roundtrip from LHR to DEL and regretted going UK. The seat on UK is just too narrow, food is sub par and drink selection dismal.

Domestically on UK I did PE and J (lay flat and normal recline). Service was good, food and drink average.
Domestically on AI, Y, no big deal, service was ok, *A does't seem like it gives any free seats (read after), but still appreciated the J check in. Domestically J was fine, nothing outstanding.

It was my first experience on both airlines longhaul and I would only fly AI again, unless hard/soft product changes on UK. The seat on UK J is just too narrow for me, there is plenty of space for a different type of seat, but they went with this one. I also dont like to be enclosed with the extra bit of enclosure near the window, it feels too tight and blocks one of the two windows.

Seats on AI J are great, so wide and much more comfortable than the UK one.

I've been on most other carriers, so not comparing them to AI or UK, but between the two carriers, I'd go with AI.

I had read horrible reports on AI and was surprised.

oliver2002

AI has redone the rostering on flights, the crew can pick stations based on interest and not seniority, so aunties are not automatically assigned to the F/C cabin.

ET had a longer article on AI/Tata this weekend: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/91037167.cms

Its patchy though, the article starts with a watermelon anecdote which can't be true since the catering is outsourced at AI to SATS, a subsidiary of Tata