Air India had a notorious reputation as a government owned enterprise. Hopes were high when it got privatized a couple of years ago. However, the service has actually deteriorated further. Regardless of the class of service -- Business, Premium Economy or Economy -- my parents (and I) have, on multiple occasions, regretted giving our patronage to this airline. Some examples of the horrors of dealing with this airline *after its privatization* are as follows:
- MAINTENANCE: Business class seating had functional issues (movie screen not working, recliner not working etc.) on 17 hour international flights, and, despite raising it with the staff, NOTHING WAS DONE during the flight - even a seat change was not possible. My parents had to continue in the defective seats, without any reprieve. Attempts at grievance resolution through customer support, after the flight, went nowhere. You can always expect to be on hold on the phone for hours at end, passed around from one agent to another, and so on, when grievance resolution is involved. If this wasn't enough, my parents faced the same issue even on the return flight! Bear in mind these were 17 hour international flights that faced this issue.
- SCHEDULING: We didn't learn our lesson the first time. We regrettably booked by Air India again due to unavailability of other options, and because the airline recently upgraded its airline fleet between DEL<-->SFO. So, keeping our fingers crossed, I went ahead with the booking. What started then was an almost non-stop sequence of schedule changes, cabin class downgrades etc, that continued for weeks, for multiple reservations. Ultimately, I decided to cancel the flights, since cabin downgrades an schedule changes (>3 hours) entitle travelers to cancel their tickets without a penalty (full refund) based on US DOT regulations. But, even for this, one has to first be able to reach the airline, which was essentially impossible. After multiple calls to the travel agent, and again being put on hold for hours, the situation went nowhere, and I ultimately had to dispute the charge on my credit card statement. Nothing seems to work with this airline other than force or legal escalation. Gone are the days when Air India felt like "our" airline, as Indians.
- CONNECTIONS/TRANSIT: I recently also faced an issue with a missed connection, with the airline trying to penny-pinch even their obligation to provide you with a comfortable transit while you wait for the next connecting flight. I had to raise hell to be allowed to even use the Air India lounge while I waited for an alternative connecting flight after a missed connection caused by Air India, when transiting in BOM during my SFO --> GOI journey.

Expect hours of frustration at some point or other, when you book with this airline. They bait you with good pricing, and the shortest travel routes between the US and India, but beware that you will "pay" for it in other intangible ways, more than what you think you might save in the short-term. I personally don't plan to ever use Air India again. Booking the ticket is just one part of an overall travel experience. There is the seating itself (which may not be functional), flight and schedule changes (during the days leading upto the flight), delayed flights (while you travel), horrendous treatment enroute (if you are stranded between connections due to those delays), protracted grievance resolution process (after the journey), and almost always an unacceptably large investment of your time dealing with the airline for any and all of the above. Literally none of my, or my parents', overall journeys on this airline since it went private have been pleasant.

I recently had a very disappointing experience with my return flight from Dubai to Delhi with Air India. During the flight, I found hair in my food, which was quite off-putting. I called for assistance from the staff member Ms. Aditi, but she dismissed me by saying she was too busy and walked away. When she returned to collect the used dishes, I informed her that I hadn’t eaten the meal due to the hair, but she didn’t apologize or acknowledge the mistake. Instead, she simply offered to bring me a replacement meal.

The lack of professionalism was extremely frustrating, especially since she didn’t even offer a basic apology for the inconvenience. To make matters worse, I noticed that the pillows provided were very dirty. This experience was far below the standard I expect from any airline, and I hope they address these issues for future passengers.

I would like to say both employee of AIR INDIA were excellent in the effort to help me out with my flight.

They made sure everything was handled correctly.

Air India offers some good routes and decent prices. Unfortunately, the business class seat from New Delhi to Thailand was not just outdated, but the phone charging outlet was broken and the service below par. The arrival in Phuket at 8 a.m. is okay if you get early hotel check-in, but for most travelers the wait for check-in at 3 p.m. could be bothersome.

I am American Airlines executive platinum member, so I do my fare share of traveling as I own a technology services business in US. Decided to take a flight from Toronto to Delhi on Jan 18th 2025. Thinking that it’s been a while since reputed company like Tata took over. How bad it can be? may be people leaving bad reviews are not fair or it’s about before Tara take over.

Well I had rude awakening waiting for me. First, flight got delayed two times, one a week before departure and second on day of departure. It messed up my connection in Delhi and added few additional hours to my long trip. From flight deck reason given was republic day events in Delhi, which is suppose to be on Jan 26 and week after my flight, go figure!!!

At the airport while checking in, I found out that seat I selected a weeks ago is not available. They put me in other seat not matching my selection. In the plane, crew told me that my originally selected seat will be used by crew for taking rest. Wow! I heard other people complaining of moved to middle seat when their selection was aisle or widow, poor soles.

let’s see the quality now. See the pictures below, it seems like no maintenance has been done since the plane was put in service, broken things all over, wear and tair everywhere you look. Ancient entertainment system, non functioning items.

No storage, things on floor everywhere. List goes on and on, can’t find any positive, forget about positive, not even a normal thing expected in business class.

Is this really owned by Tata? At least good that Ratan ji is not alive to see it.

I am worried about my return flight as perhaps it will be same horrible aircraft.

My advice, don't look at price or route convenience, not worth it.