Air India

I paid for two seats for my wife and 4 year old son, flying from Birmingham Uk to New Delhi India.
For reasons unknown, my 4 year old dependent son was seated in a separate row from his Mother. He was so distraught and distressed upon being separated from his Mother, he would not stop crying. Air Stewards response to my wife “Madam, the flight is full. If you wish to be seated with your son, you will have to negotiate with your fellow passengers”. No passenger was willing to facilitate and my wife spent the entire 8 hours with my 4 year old son sat on her lap. This was so uncomfortable that she developed back pains. Repeated appeals to the Air Stewards were met with the same response outlined above.

To separate a 4 year old child from his Mother is INHUMANE. I paid for two seats and expected that my dependent child would be seated next to his Mother. The fact that my wife and son were literally left with no choice but to occupy ONE seat is a disgrace. And the customer complaints process for Air India is not fit for purpose, I am being ignored.

I travel by Air India rarely. But decided to try it since the Tatas acquired it.

My flight on November 1, 2022, AI 905 Dubai – Chennai was very comfortable in seat 2D.

Of course the plane was very old. The saftey announcements were antiquated. Entertainment systems were absent. And the seats had limited reclining.

But the ticket was cheaper by 40%! So I was happy to accept this shortcomings. And the plane was on time.

However, the seats were clean. The 2 lady flight attendants were very attentive and empathetic, not just to me, but to all passengers.

I had ordered a gluten free meal and they made sure I was comfortable with it.

They served and helped as if it was natural to them. On other airlines, the flight attendants mostly behave as if they are doing you a favor, that they are very busy and you are a burden, even in Business Class.

But these 2 ladies were a credit to Air India. I don’t know their names but hopefully Air India will commend them too.

Travelled from Paris to Delhi on 3rd June 2022. Our flight got cancelled after waiting at runway for 5 hours and they left us in airport for 24 hours without food, water and accommodation. No boarding pass, further communication and follow up with us…we some how managed to reach the gate on next day and reached Delhi. Our bags yet to come…it is been more than a month. I tried to reach their customer support by phone and email and they never respond. Some times they pick up phone (very rarely) and then say will get back to you…that’s it.

When I entered the Air India plane, there was a slight sensation of stale air. Apparently they had not used a air freshener before boarding the passengers.. During the 15-hour flight from Vancouver to New Delhi, none of the tv screens in the plane was working. An apology for this failure was announced over the speakers. All the passengers had to endure the sheer boredom throughout the 15 hours. AC too may not have been working because the air was humid and stuffy. None of the cabin crew came around offering water or other services at any time. So mothers with infants had to go to the galley and fetch the water themselves. Throughout the flight people were walking up and down the aisle to fetch water to drink. For lunch they also put the snack meant for tea, so crew can be spared the effort of serving again. It was so deplorable I cancelled my return trip by Air India and booked on Lufthansa instead, even though I lost a substantial amount of money by doing so. Never again Air India in my life and anyone else I can persuade not to travel on this pathetic airline.

All travellers be warned. Air India is a beggar airline. They will take your money and you will never see it again, even if you do your due diligence and cancel within 24 hours, even if you call them every other day for 2 month, wait on hold for hours, write 20 emails and create 5 escalated cases with their sub standard, rude and good for nothing customer support agents.

All of the above happened to me. I booked a business class ticket and tried to cancel online but the system was down so I called to cancel within 24 hours. But the customer support agent casually said, and I quote “please call back later. The system is undergoing maintenance and I cannot cancel at this time”.

I called, emailed, left feedback on resolver.com and airindia.com and google and everywhereveral times after that and I got the same response: I’d have to pay the $200 cancellation charge because the 24 hours has passed. I did end up cancelling and paying the fee. They promised to refund the fee but never did.