Hello from India, as I just flew Air India’s Airbus A350-900 business class on the 9hr10min flight from London (LHR) to Delhi (DEL), as the first part of my review trip. Air India has obviously been through quite the journey in the past several years, as it has been privatized, and is trying to reinvent…
Continue reading: Air India A350 Business Class: World Class, Now We Need More Of This!
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I'm all for seeing a good business class product from this airline. But does it solve and answer the question, why did their other aircraft/product offerings become so poorly maintained and shoddy? (the headline making dirty cabins, etc.)
Because if those underlying maintenance and investment issues are still present, what is stopping / when will this new product similarly get degraded and start going down the tubes?
Ben, I’m truly glad you finally managed to fly AI’s A350. With all the horrible reviews and comments recently on AI cabins falling apart — which, believe me, are fully justified given AI’s poor maintenance history — this only marks the start of what might well shape up to be a phenomenal turnaround for one of the most-maligned airlines in the world. The Tatas and SQ have had a big role to play in this, especially with morale low after the tragedy of AI171. What they’ve done so far, at least on A350s and ex-Vistara aircraft, is commendable.
It’s been a year since the Vistara brand flew into the sunset, and I only wish you’d fly its A321neo or 787-9 on the DEL–SIN route as a tribute. The ex-Vistara A320neo that you will fly to KUL isn’t much different from domestic first class in the US. Meanwhile the A321neo has lie-flats, though of course it won’t be as great as that on Starlux or ITA’s A321neo, and the 787-9 has the same J product as SQ A350 Regionals and 787-10s.
Enjoy your stay at the top of the Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, and the SQ 737 MAX after that — content like this is what we’ve been waiting for!
this means absolutely nothing if they dont maintain it.... just saying. lets see how this looks in less than a year
India in general seems to have a culture of very little upkeep/maintenance. Even 5 star hotels built over 10-15 years ago feel very very worn out. So hopefully the airline will work against the engrained culture and invest in maintenance and upkeep of these planes
Namaste.
I wish more airlines would offer proper baskets for bread rather than just some odd plate. And more bread options such as roti, paratha, pita, etc. would be nice aside from the usual rolls one would get.
Great to see some creativity all around nonetheless.
Interesting review. Hopefully AI is getting their house in order.
How did you book this?
I don't know whether to accuse you of being a liar, a paid or shill, or whether Air India has truly cast off its last few decades of government-owned indolence, but assuming that your travelogue is even halfway honest, Air India has a more than fighting chance of redeeeming itself.
They can have the best business class in the world, I would still not fly them, at least not voluntarily. Too many incidents to consider this airline safe.
It’s nice because it’s new. But give it a year, and it’ll be as decrepit as every other aspect of that airline.
Air India buys nice things. But they cannot keep them nice. That’s their problem.
These frames were all delivered 2+ years ago. Maybe check back in another 2 years and then we will be able to evaluate this. The airline is no longer government run so it's probably not fair to equate their 777 fleet to the A350 fleet
“the airline literally having an announcement after takeoff about lavatory etiquette”
Wut? I’m out!
It will age badly. AI's issue is their customer base. All the employee training in the world can only go so far. If customer etiquette doesn't change, it's all for naught.
Interesting about the timing of the pre-arrival meal. I flew them DEL-LHR on the night flight leaving at around 2am, with a duration of about 9 hours. I was super grumpy and annoyed that they whacked the lights on to serve breakfast over Istanbul, about 3.5 hours before landing. It seemed so unnecessary when other airlines can bash out a single-tray breakfast 75-90 mins before landing.
C'mon now. Look through the archive. If your claim is true, Air India needs to invest in a better shill. The pictures speak for themselves: it's a sharp/new cabin and the seats, amenity bag, & service items speak for themselves. Even if you don't like the design of the plates or whatever, I think you have to acknowledge they are at least respectable and on par with other airlines.
The only parts we need to trust Ben on are the taste of the food and quality of the service. I guess that's up to you but, even then, I don't think most people consider those to be the most important considerations.
I agree with the James that the real test will be what the cabin looks like in a year (or 10...) and I think most ppl familiar with the brand are highly skeptical they'll be able to maintain everything properly. But Lucky can't speak to that, he can only review what he experiences at the time of his flight.
Enjoying rubbing in your gaslight victory?
Now rub one off by
"visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"
"Air India sure showers you with gifts when you board a long haul business class flight."
No Air India business class shower is complete without the Wells Fargo golden shower. It's raining gifts of gold.
This is the part of Air India which some people wish it was the entirety. They have only six A350s and 777s with new(er) seats and the rest of 13 777s and 26 787s are gifting its flyers a journey of horror. You can't make a judgement on AI's state without flying on one of these.
Don’t know which 10-15 years old 5 star hotel you went to but the ones that I have been visiting in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai have been fantastic and very well kept
This is the oasis experience in a desert . They barely have 6 A350s and in addition to that they are losing the leases ex-777LRs in the very near future. All their other wide bodies and most narrow bodies are in a very bad state. Even their maintenance is awful. In Canada necessary blame the current private management for this. It’s just that these are legacy aircraft that were required and maintained by the old government management. And their way of maintaining the aircraft was essentially grounding aircraft and than using it for spare parts. India still has one 777-300 ER that was used for spare parts and it’s still parked in Nagpur and might have to be officially strapped at some point of time.
Maybe When they have enough new aircraft and have retired a major part of the old legacy aircraft, this might still be a good airline. But till then it’s an airline on the must avoid list.
The unfixable problem with Air India is that you are flying to or from India. Not an enviable position to be in
I thought I would never see the words "Air India" described with the words "world class" for very very long time
Agreed, there's a reason why their toilets are always clogged.
These A350s will soon become as decrepit and worn down as their 777s.
Nice! I'm flying this the other way in a few months and looking forward to trying it out. So in the social area there was just a full bottle of champagne that passengers could uncork for themselves? Would be a kind of fun thing to do...
Those of us who have actually travelled to and around India, would strongly recommend that before making uneducated sounding statements, one would actually do well to visit the country first. Failing to do so can make one look such a fool without qualifying statements, yes, Julie?
Totally understand. One is often put in the same position flying UA, DL or AA.
Couldn't agree more. Add to that the type of food they serve, although it is very tasteful, it unfortunately smells pretty strong and no matter what you do, curry and other spices will stick into the cabin in a way you can't mask it.
Combine that with the innate body odor and you'll be wishing the amenity kit included nose plugs and not ear plugs.
I love the Turkish Airlines bread selections for breakfast. They have simit, pide, croissant, regular rolls, etc.
@ Eric Schmidt -- It's a great point, of course, and it's why I said "now we need more of this." Indeed, this isn't the experience most people get. I've obviously heavily criticized Air India for its lack of maintenance on 777s.
The way it was explained to me, since the seats are no longer in production, the airline is having a hard time sourcing the parts needed to fix the seats, and we're seeing hundreds of the business class seats break per month. They're being fixed, but probably not as well as they should be.
I still feel like the airline could do better with those seats than it's doing. I'm hopeful that with newer seats that are still in production, cabin maintenance becomes much more of a focus.
It is fair to equate how they are treating their current fleet.
If they can't be bothered to repair their 777s (which make up a large part of their fleet), once their A350s start breaking down, what makes you think they'll maintain and repair those?
I flew the A359 JFK-DEL two weeks ago, then continued to SYD on the Boeing 788. For sleeping, I did find the Airbus seating to be comfortable only while lying on my back. For side sleepers, there's nowhere for your knees to go. I actually slept better on the aging 788, though in every other respect the new A359 was a better experience.
The crews on both flights were delightful and well-meaning. They just aren't trained to the same standard as most other airlines' crews, though. There seems to be no rigor of a cabin service plan that is well thought out. I happen to really appreciate the chaos of India and its wonderful people, so all this made me smile rather than annoy me. But hopefully AI will get some help on cabin service management from SQ.
There was already visible wear & tear on the cabin interior of the A359. Cleaning and maintenance standards need to improve at Air India if they are going to change their reputation.
Yes, I've heard similar reports of the A350s already experiencing substantial wear & tear as well.
The seats are “exceptional”? Aren’t they just repurposed Delta one or Aeroflot seats? Never heard those described as exceptional within the range of business class offerings. Is this something different?
I came here expecting to find all the pro-India trolls that attacked Ben the last gave a bad review to be here apologizing. Seems they are hiding behind their keyboards.
Well......if you travel on any US air limes, United or Delta One and KLM, AF...........Business and the 1st class ain't any better , run down shifty service and old configurations!!
Given the time of the privatization of AI, future looks good.........all the best!
This typifies the old adage that “you can pit lipstick on a pig but it will always be a pig” wonderful when it’s brand new but then the maintenance and fleet presentation is so poor - I could never relax - their 747’a in first class many years ago were fantastic but…..
I‘m happy Ben had a nice experience after all the bad luck people had with AI in recent times.
Agreed Eve. While the tap water sucks and is to be avoided at all cost, the upkeep of the hotels I have stayed at have all been fantastic. Even the midnight buffets.
Mr. Ben:
Thanks for writing a good review about your
experience in your recent visit to india by
air bus 350-900.
am glad to note that you you enjoyed everything in the flight including indian foods. you must visit indian cities stay in
hotels and eat diff food in diff restaurant and five star hotels you will really enjoy
Tatas who owned airindia also own several
5 star hotels in several cities and they do
catering to airindia and other airlines.
i am very happy to read your good review about AI, who was my former employer where i have served 27 years.
thanks
I agree, but I think it's also a convenient excuse from Air India. Those poorly maintained seats were in addition, just dirty and uncleaned. You can clean seats even if parts are not available, unless somehow the deteriorating condition of the seats made them less "enthusiastic" to do cleaning anymore, somehow.
It's a reflection of an airline culture / policy I think. And that's why I have a suspicion new seats won't last long against shoddy maintenance that has been an airline decision at its core.
Except the fact that this is showcasing a fraction of this airline's status.
I hope you can say the same after getting a golden shower from a Wells Fargo executive on their falling apart A320s and 777s.
As someone who loves bread in general, more variety would be nice. I'd be happy even with sourdough and ciabatta as you don't see them on offer on many carriers.
As croissants, muffins, and Danishes get boring for your usual breakfast offering, bagels, whole meal toast, crumpets/scones, and even something like raisin bread wouldn't hurt.
And proper serving and presentation is just as important.
Yes, when it's Delta offering the product, it's just average and nothing interesting.
When Air India does it, it's "exceptional". Pure bias on display
It looks great actually, but you are brave! I dont fly with these as long as I dont see a change in their entire company.
I don’t care. You could offer me $100,000 and I wouldn’t step anywhere near one of their planes.
@ Patrick -- I think these seats are pretty great. Okay, maybe "exceptional" is a little generous, and that enthusiasm partly considered the extent to which Air India has improved. But I would consider this to be among the 10 best business class seats out there:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/best-business-class-seats/
@ Julia -- This isn't the same seat that Delta has? Just because seats are staggered and have doors doesn't make them identical. It would be like saying that all reverse herringbone seats are the same.
Is their regular coffee actually drip coffee now? Last time I flew Air India on a long-haul flight, the coffee was a powdered instant coffee. It was beyond bad.
Also, a typo I think in "rather than just putting them back on the day to be reused". Guessing you mean tray.
That actually looks decent. The issue is consistency as Air India could sell a350, but swap for 773 las-minute, which would be a totally different experience. So far, from NYC-area, they operate both, so it’s not a risk I wanna take anytime soon. Would rather take United’s 787 or American’s 773, where a better seat is a sure-thing.
Good news; they aren’t paying you anything. You’d still need to pay them. So much for playing hard to get.
This is my concern (other than the recent safety issues); out of NYC area, they fly both this beautiful a359, but also the 773, so if they swap last-minute, you’re screwed.
Based on what I know, Air India now uses Starbucks for their coffee. Though what method no clue
One of the rare occasions I agree with you. India has a lot of problems but only someone who has not visited the country can speak such amount of stereotypic nonsense
Until they finish the retrofit, this is what majority of pax are gonna see on their Asian and American long haul flights. The A350 is only used in a few major European routes and that’s all
A sad reality that you will need to go out of the way to pick and choose specific routes if you ever need fly comfortable with the airline
I recently flew Air India on their JFK-BOM route in business (old Etihad plane) and my mother flew EWR-BOM in First (old Etihad plane) just last week. While the interiors were old, neither of us noticed anything broken or inoperable. Food was good, bathrooms were clean and service was excellent. Only 2 downsides: lack of wifi and changing terminals at JFK & EWR. The SAS lounge that AI uses at EWR was decent. The AI lounge at JFK is terrible. My mother was provided an escort from the aircraft door through immigration and customs in BOM till the car pickup, which she appreciated.
Are you off you quite alright there, Eskimo?
You sound like a lunatic who happened upon some pop-psych nonsense on TikTok and thinks it makes them sound enlightened.
Well, duh. Lucky never said or implied this is what to expect on every air India flight. He’s reviewing a new product. By definition, new products are initially only going to be in a small percentage of the fleet.
The airline’s leadership has both acknowledged the airline is a total mess and pledged to turn it around. This is maybe the first tangible evidence to support that promise. The product showcases their vision for the future. Time will tell on whether they can actually deliver (both in terms of modernizing the fleet and maintaining it).
Sorry, but I idolized India before I went there. It was a 20 year dream of mine to go. I sublet my apartment and got a 6 month visa to stay in India. I have never been a germ phobe. I stayed in Cairo and loved it. I visited Mexico when I was 3 years old and many times since. I am adventurous and have never feared for my physical body for any reason in my life. Then I went to Delhi. In one Afternoon I saw a man shit on the street, 20 meters away from that I saw a man eating food off the same said street without a plate, then I went to the grocery store and saw meal worms falling out of boxes on the shelf, milk in the refrigerator that was separated and black at the bottom, and so many flies that were infesting every area of the store. I walked out of the store and I saw a man with no arm, but it didn't look like it had been cut or broken off, the skin on his back was pock marked as if a bacterial infection had eaten away at his flesh. I got scared for my physical health for the first time in my life. India ruined me for travel to less developed countries. I hate traveling where the water isn't safe enough to drink now. I honestly believe there will be some kind of horrible disease that will breed in the trash and feces on the street. I seriously can't with India. I consider it a humanitarian crisis.
Trackmyseat.com shows that AI 116 (JFK) & AI 144 (EWR) doesn’t get the new A350, only the older Etihad products.
Just a quick fact-check here, Julia.
The Boeing 787s make up the majority of their long haul fleet (not the 777s as you state) and the first B787-8 of 26 is currently undergoing full refurbishment both inside and out (entire new. The entire fleet will be done by mid 2027 followed by 13 (out of a total of 17) 777s thereafter.
You can read all about it here: https://www.airindia.com/in/en/newsroom/articles/Air-India-commences-widebody-retrofit-programme.html
I'd actually agree with Ben. Having flown this aircraft in April, these Collins Horizon seats are some of my favourite business class seats out there, it's a real shame more airlines haven't opted for them.
@Ben - I've several friends working for Air India, for whom the last few months have been very traumatic after the AI171 incident. Know that your encouraging words make a difference to a lot of them.
Separately - what do you think of the new livery on the A350 from up close, now that it's been a little bit since launch?
I know you are not supposed to drink tap water in India. A better statement would be to avoid tap water getting into your mouth at all cost. For those of us who sing in the shower and forget about the tap water standards... well...
Check the time Tata first promised these changes.
It's been a few years and there're just about ~150 planes to reconfigure.
Yet none of them have received the new interior. None.
The new planes are already starting to fall apart.
Time is sure telling that their vision for the future cannot be delivered.
Instead, the airline insists passengers to Proximanova - gaslight themselves "visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"
I mean, how smart is that.
Gaslight and trick customers into thinking that AI is changing, when the facts tell them that nothing has changed and will change.
Can you post which routes have the new AI fleet? Like you do for some other airlines that have mixed fleets with old/new cabins.
Not sure what made your experience so good. It seems it just was better than what you were expecting or it seems because of the new product it was good. I think it is important to differenciate between good and as expected.
Why can't AI at least fix the poor service and poor food on their 777's? Inexcusable they haven't restrained and/or replaced crews that cannot perform to the "new" standards.
Why the "double standard" in sevice between their A350 and 777/787 aircraft
Liers. Their flight are the worst third citizen planes in the world. My experience from SFO to Delhi had worst experience. I will pay premium on Emirates or Qatqr airlines. Cheap service all broken chairs and entertainment. How the he'll the plane maintenance is done if they cannot fix basic amenities.
I don’t get why Europe only? We are traveling JFK-Delhi depart and return. It’s a 14 hr flight; much longer than Europe. Oh well, we were hoping for a non stop, but will have to look elsewhere for reasonable biz class air
I recently took a flight from kochi to Melbourne via Delhi. The exceptional ground staff support in kochi who went out of the way to update my Australian visa by speaking to the Embassy and putting me on board with my wife was a big relief. The on time performance was top notch both to and from Delhi. The food and on board service was above my expectations. Way to go Air India .