Air India has been nicely growing their US route network lately. They picked up momentum when the US electronics ban was put in place against Gulf carriers, and they’ve been able to maintain that ever since. In December 2015, Air India launched 3x weekly flights between San Francisco and Delhi (their longest route), a flight which now operates 6-7x weekly. On top of that, Air India has added flights between Washington and Delhi, and also added a new flight between Newark and Ahmedabad, which operates via London.
Executives at the airline have claimed that Air India intends to add several more US routes, including flights to Dallas and Los Angeles, though more often than not these new routes don’t seem to come to fruition. The most recent rumor has been that Air India intends to add more flights to the Bay Area. We’ve heard rumors of them increasing service between Delhi and San Francisco, and have also heard rumors of them adding service between Mumbai and San Francisco.
Well, at least part of this expansion is now official. Air India will be adding two additional weekly frequencies between Delhi and San Francisco as of March 25, 2018. These additional frequencies will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR, with the following schedule:
AI183 Delhi to San Francisco departing 6:00PM arriving 8:30PM [Fri, Sun]
AI184 San Francisco to Delhi departing 1:00AM arriving 6:00AM (+1 day) [Sat, Mon]
As a point of comparison, here’s the schedule for Air India’s existing daily frequency to San Francisco:
AI173 Delhi to San Francisco departing 4:00AM arriving 7:00AM
AI174 San Francisco to Delhi departing 11:30AM arriving 4:15PM (+1 day)
At ~7,700 miles, this is Air India’s longest route, so it’s especially impressive that they’ve been able to make this route work as well as they have. Air India only has three Boeing 777-200LRs in their fleet, so I’m guessing that they’re pretty close to being maxed out with those planes from this route alone.
Air India’s 777-200LRs feature eight first class seats, 35 angled business class seats, and 195 economy seats (in a 3-3-3 configuration, which is pretty rare nowadays).
Here’s my review of Air India’s 777 first class from my flight on them from Delhi to San Francisco.
Congrats to Air India on their success in the Bay Area, though I’d sure love to see them add some further destinations in the US as well.
We travelled AI173 on 28 June. The flight was delayed from Delhi but was ok. Ground staff at Delhi specially mgr at check in counter was uncooperative and tried to harras us the senior citizens. He was one Sikh gentleman.
Luxurywise, Air India's 3-3-3 (economy) seating is great! More legroom, wider seats, confortable reclain etc. However, the in-cabin service is horrible. Being Goverment (undertaking) employees, Cabin crews behave as if they are doing favours to customers, no smile on face, controlling/commanding passesengers like a school teacher!
We have traveled by AI173 and AI174 in 2016 and again 2018.This time our economy class seats were allotted quite far Which made us uneasy during entire flight time.Rest of the things we’re appreciable.Hope AI look into such things to make it better.
I wish Air India improves Business class seating. Seats are too old malfictional and not totally flat like in other flights like British airways. 2-3-2 configuration is not friendly
Lakshmi Basu says, Our return flight to SFO from Delhi began on 1/11/18. We arrived at the airport at noon. Ticket read 4.00, with no indication of am or pm. We were informed that the flight had left 8 hours prior.At that time we were issued a voucher for partial refund, which I have not received.Rebooked on AI 173 on 4.00 am on1/12/18. Paid additional INR 387184 for business class. At 7.00 am my seat...
Lakshmi Basu says, Our return flight to SFO from Delhi began on 1/11/18. We arrived at the airport at noon. Ticket read 4.00, with no indication of am or pm. We were informed that the flight had left 8 hours prior.At that time we were issued a voucher for partial refund, which I have not received.Rebooked on AI 173 on 4.00 am on1/12/18. Paid additional INR 387184 for business class. At 7.00 am my seat 2D malfunctioned.I have back problem and had back surgery recently.We invested in business class to be assured I would not suffer any unnecessary discomfort.My husband and I are 80+ yrs old.Last 4 hrs of flt toilet did not have water/antibacterial gel,contributing to illness,emotional stress confining to bed almost near to hospitilation. While we do not seek restitution for my pain(back) and suffering (subsequent illness and emotional stress),we do feel that we should not pay the financial penalty for reissued tickets. I have posted on feedback 3 times with no result. Ref. #WB-IDEL020218002,and ref. # WB-IDL160518003, acknowledged the receipt but no actions. I do not know what else to do. Advise.
@mark
The only country where I worry about bed bugs is the US. Not to mention the junk that the legacy carriers are flying.
Watch out for bed bugs in the ancient fabrics and pillows.
Great that they are expanding. Gone are the days when Air India service was terrible. The flights to the US have great service - meals are good and the staff keeps the drinks flowing and the fact that you can be in India in 14 hrs non-stop is just amazing.
Feels like it was just yesterday when I had to make two stops on gulf carriers to get to the India at an affordable price in a decent airline and now it is so convenient.
Don't know if I would use Air India. Good to see them expand though.
Its the Asian carriers that must be hurting now losing all the west coast India traffic.
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I have always flown to Asia first, usually Singapore, before going to India. The reason is that I am very nervous arriving in India at 2 am if flying from Europe. I want to be fully alert when I arrive in India.
Good move. My colleagues and I definitely appreciate this development. Keep the ball rolling AI!
It's not possible to book a DTW-DEL route, for example, using AI's website. You can only book from US airports directly served by AI.
I thought AI's code share with United would result in seamless internet booking, with United connecting from DTW to ORD\IAD\SFO or whatever other airport AI flies from
AI needs to up their game when it comes to their internet ticketing.It's not like United is scrambling to compete in the US-India market anyway...
These routes make perfect sense. Its the Asian carriers that must be hurting now losing all the west coast India traffic.
It's actually going to be 6x AI 173 (Daily except Tuesday) and 3x AI 183 (Tue/Fri/Sun)