Air India A320neo Business Class: Pleasant, Friendly, Basic, And Clean

Pleasant, unless your phone charger isn't working...

You really have to appreciate the creativity of the meals especially dessert and drinks as well as presentation.

And I'm guessing you either ate the bread already, it was served after taking the photo, you didn't opt for it, or it simply wasn't on offer but that would be strange if a side of butter was on your tray 😉

The ex-Vistara A321neo from DEL/BOM to SIN offers a significantly better experience, including seatback IFE, lie-flat beds and Wi-Fi — a significant upgrade over these A320neos. This is far and away the best narrowbody in South Asia for the time being, with SriLankan’s A321neo a distant second. You’ll also find these A321neos flying to HKG and now MNL, and even MRU in Africa.

Correction: that should be DPS instead of HKG. For these two routes, the A321neo and older 787-8 can both be used depending on the season and demand.

I flew this route a couple of months ago, and yes, the experience is precisely what I experienced. If you do ask, you do get champagne for the pre-departure. But I did like the buttermilk option, less the sugarcane (tried both on my in/outbound).
Currently, if you get the Vistara crew, the service level is much better. I did get an AI based crew on my previous long-haul, and you do notice that the service level is not as polish.
The KUL flight is strange as it lands in T2 (the low cost terminal). At least for departure, the lounge is OK and as one of the only full service airline at the terminal, treatment seems slightly better compared to all the Air Asia flight pax.

Cheers!

I love that we need to call out the word clean.

You would never see Ben use that to describe other airlines because that's the default expectation.

Pleasant, Friendly, Basic, And Clean... I wish Indian travellers could be the same

I flew AI business class on a two hour domestic route (BOM-DEL) and was offered more or less the same quantity of food.

Wifi is extremely difficult (and costly) for Indian airlines to provide due to regulatory requirements.

The regulator DOGA requires not only that each individual aircraft of an Indian carrier must be certified but also that the internet provider is from a small group of Indian DOGA approved providers.

What do you mean? I have much more problems with American passengers than Indian ones.

True. Clean and pleasant sound more like to a fair expectation aboard any airline's premium cabin than something that needs to be specifically pointed out.

Ah, Masala Chaas, “buttermilk juice.” I just can’t quite stomach something that incongruous between the thickness of the milk and the spices which I find odd for dairy, but it’s an Indian classic. What a shame they put in streaming entertainment but not tablet holders.

That food looks yummy. Too bad about the PDB.

Only thing worse than kids screaming "poo poo" is a kid using his Mom's iPad to airdrop photos of said "poo poo" to everyone on the plane. Happened to me on AA years ago after I forgot to turn off airdrop heading back from a work trip. Will never make that mistake again

The default expectation, yes, but it's not always realised. The speed at which cleaning crews churn through an aircraft must be seen to be believed. Even if they do get all the crumbs and the wrappers, those cabins are still pretty gross on the whole.

Cabin crew surveys frequently name Dehli as one of the worst destinations for encountering rude and entitled passengers. Tel Aviv is also notorious, while pax traveling too and from Lagos are generally considered to be the worst of all.

Cruise terminal cities like Fort Lauderdale also score badly on flying ass surveys.

Meanwhile their economy on these planes has dreadful 28” of seat pitch…

Lucky....You are blessed with two boys and a great partner. Why are you flying on AI ? Questinable records etc and narrowbody crews will have least experience. Frankly...I am shocked. On cancelled flights they are giving refunds...speaks volumes.

Pete, gosh, that's fairly prejudicial, mate. Could you at least add "and, some, I assume are good people."

You know AI is not an inherently unsafe airline? If that was the case both American and European regulators have banned them till now like they did in the case of PIA and Thai

Racists galore whenever Ben posts about Air India.

I don't know if you're new here, but Lucky's job is an airline and hotel blogger and reviewer, with some credit card commissions thrown in for good measure. He hasn't reviewed Air India for years, and this is his first time flying with AI since Tata bought them. So he'd want to check them out himself to see if they've improved, even though he could have easily booked a Gulf carrier or Singapore Airlines instead.

Yes I consider myself quite acquainted with Indian culture having worked in Mumbai for 6+ years. But that chaas (buttermilk) especially if it's spiced/salted is still an acquired taste to me. Love lassi though

Lassi makes the most logical sense as it is an Indian speciality that will please everyone with its sweetness and various flavors you could create it with. But yeah I have tried buttermilk once in a dinner in India and it is an acquired taste

Lucky....You are blessed with two boys and a great partner. Why are you flying on AI ?

Cos he reviews flights for a living and people want to read about different airlines and different aircraft DUH

This VT-CIE offers a significantly better gaslight, including COPA 737 over KE 787 and rub the wound by "visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"

Correction: that should be Proximanova instead of VT-CIE.
No more hypocrite using a name of ordinary, no-frills Air India A320neo, and not a luxurious A380 or something.

Maybe I missed it, but I dont see the flight details, i.e. date, scheduled/actual departure/arrival, booking method. Anyhow, a lie flat for a short 5 hour flight?

No, you don't.

Hey Ben,

I tried booking a flight on an A320neo and no one can ticket it because their system is hard coded to not accept SAMPLE as a surname. Have you ever heard of anything like that? Tried 1st partying booking, call center, OTAs, all rejected the ticket and either failed completely (Amex travel) or dropped me and only ticketed my wife.