For the next flight ofmy Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew Air Indias Boeing 777-300ER first class on the 9hr25min flight from Delhi (DEL) to Frankfurt (FRA).
Best sleep you’ve ever had on a plane? “Yowzers!” (Eh, for just 75K Aeroplan points, not bad, not bad at all.)
As I have said previously, the product is more than fine for me since it affords the two things I value most: space and rest. On a long flight, such as DEL to SFO, there is no better alternative to arriving fresh and rested after a full 8-9 hours of uninterrupted rest. Would I pay for it out of my own pocket? Depends. All I can say is that every time I fly AI in this route, I arrive ready to hit the ground timing running. Furthermore, as someone why genuinely loves the subcontinent, I love the attention and the ground service.
By the way - I love kala jamun juice although it took some time to become accustomed to. You can find it at whole foods - at least in SFO - and has become a hit at home - really nutritious fruit fill of vitamin c and iron!
Honestly, seems alright for 75k aeroplan.
@ Captain John -- Indeed, at 75K points it was a great first class value. Though admittedly that pricing isn't Air India specific, but instead, just reflects the distance flown.
Been a while since I've seen "Florida Sunkist orange" as a description on a menu.
Thank you for the nice review. It looks like a good enough product given that it is regularly available with Aeroplan points.
While reading this article, the website re-loaded four times including the pictures and ads … something to look into with the new website refresh.
@international:
Yeah, experienced and experiencing the same with the site now.
There are aspects of the seat that I really like but as you mentioned the areas in which this seat/experience are lacking are some of the most expected given it is first class. Soon the airplane will receive a new cabin (hopefully) or we can wait for the 777-9 to enter their fleet.
Kala Jamun is indeed a fruit, though not one you’d usually make juice from. And “interesting” is a good description of how it tastes.
Yeah, for first class, that menu is a bit underwhelming in terms of quantity of choice. And the meal themelves just look like really nice business class meals.
For what you spent, not bad, even if it was more premium business class than first class.
Just curious but how did the load in business class look?
@ Aaron -- Agree with you! Regarding business class load, it was rough on this flight... I'd say around one-third full.
Every review I can remember lately has Ben saying "I’m generally a horrible airplane sleeper, though I slept [spectacularly] well on this flight." in some form or another : D
Ben, I think its time to admit you're a perfectly average airplane sleeper!!
I think you're thinking of two reviews of the same flight!
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/air-india-777-first-class/
Slightly off topic, but mostly ON topic:
It's nice to read reviews of Air India and India service standards without the constant din of the racists and aholes.
THANK YOU JEREMY AND BEN!!!!!!1!!!!!
@ TravelinWilly -- Thanks! I promise we're staying on top of this, and I appreciate the patience everyone had so we could get a system in place that works.
Service was excellent, breakfast was delicious, lunch was quite good, "you could order what you wanted, when you wanted" plus "slept for well over six hours", no issues and still gets a three-star rating? Looks to me that should be higher than that.
@ Ricky -- I'm curious, what rating do you think this should've received? Do you think this first class product is on the level of AF, EK, JL, SQ, etc.?
Yes, service was friendly and there was dine on demand, but I'd expect that to be the case on any airline in first class. I also did sleep very well, though that might've partly been because this was my third redeye flight in a row, so I was very exhausted. 😉
Regarding food, yes, it was absolutely pretty good, but I'm also a huge fan of Trader Joe's Indian dishes, which cost around $3. Just because something tastes quite good doesn't mean it's a competitive first class meal, in my opinon.
3.5 or 4 stars. Out of the examples you mentioned, I’ve never flown AF or EK First Class but JL - 4 stars (disappointing Japanese food), and SQ - 4.5 stars (maybe food poisoning). BTW, love it that I got your second reply ever to me! I know this stuff is subjective.
I can’t believe you missed an opportunity to subcaption the Lufthansa 747 photo! 🙂
I would be interested in the first class product they have on A351s
@ BBT -- Yeah, I'm curious what's going on there, and what we see. Air India ultimately switched suppliers, and now plans a new type of first class product on those planes:
https://onemileatatime.com/news/new-air-india-first-class/
However, I don't imagine this will be available on the A350-1000 being delivered before the end of the year.
@Ben, I seem to recall that when you included photos of planes you spotted on the tarmac you'd caption them with what they were, e.g., "Lufthansa 747-800" but it seems like you've stopped? Such captions were far more helpful then a generic "Air India 777 taxing" caption on multiple photos of different planes. Can you please go back to identifying the planes in the captions, as not all of your readers are as competent as you in identifying different planes. Thanks!
@ jallan -- That's good feedback, thanks. Let me see how I can change that up going forward.
The issue with AI seems to be inconsistency of both hard and soft products
To each his own, but Brunello wine from Italy is quite wonderful.
“ obviously the dark cabin, lack of noise, smells, and sounds, and individual air nozzles, all contributed to a great experience.”
Surprising on an AI flight.
"quite good" seems to be your general assesement of the food on that flight. Very generous in my opinion, although of course, I wasn't there to agree or not.
I thought a shorter version of that menu would have been acceptable in Economy, but not in F or J.
I would have been extremely disappointed with that menu in First.
@ glenn t -- I agree with you, and that's why the flight got a relatively low rating. Ultimately Indian food makes great airplane food since it reheats well, but this definitely didn't feel like what you'd expect in first class.
As someone who genuinely finds food in first class on major western carriers insipid and uninspiring (LX and LH specifically and AA loads from the bottom), I think the menu on this flight polls much more exciting. Not sure why the qualms with the food. Good food is good food.
‘As someone who genuinely finds food in first class on major western carriers insipid and uninspiring (LX and LH specifically’
I agree with you. So true.