Air India is undergoing a transformation at the moment,after being privatized. The airline is investing hugely in modernizing its fleet and improving the passenger experience. This includesordering 470 new aircraft,introducing new cabins, and completely rebranding.
Continue reading: Air India Upgrades Mumbai To USA Flights To Best 777s
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Unfortunately it's still very much an inferior product to what American Airlines flies into India!
Last week, a friend flew SFO-BLR and was pleasantly surprised by the 1-2-1 configuration in J. Judging by the upholstery from their photos, it appears to be ex-DL aircraft on the BLR fight too.
@Ben - AI apparently also just announced a new route from BOS to BOM. And while unrelated tO US, they also announced the first ever BOM to MEL nonstop. Exciting time to be flying long haul out of Mumbai, a long time undeserved hub with a huge catchment of O&D traffic to global hubs.
@ Sarthak -- Do you have a link to the Boston announcement? I know it was being considered, but didn't see it announced. Thanks!
Air India is unlikely to get any business from the Southern city of Chennai. No one wants to transit in Delhi or Mumbai to the USA especially when you can fly any of the gulf airlines.. Cathay or Singapore. Much rather transit at those airports. If they hope to take any business from the other long haul airlines you the USA they can't ignore one of the largest IT and Manufacturing hubs of India. The Delhi centric mentality needs to change. The connection time is also bad from the other airports to DEL.
it more about the aircraft range and hub and spoke concept for Air India to run flights from DEL and BOM. I am myself from HYD and praying for HYD-DFW non-stop for years. Hopefully things will change in future and see some point to point flights to USA.
Its more of an announcement that they are exploring new routes (LAX and BOS) non-stop from India once they start getting A350's
Over time I would expect non stops from Chennai and Hyderabad at least to SFO. Whilst the one stop routes will for the foreseeable future offer better service etc non stop has its own advantages that will likely offset.
You sound like one of them people who wants the world to connect to their cities airport. A lot of us have that temptation. But the distance and demand ensure that MAA does not make sense.
Now you can choose whoever you want to patronize. Your choice. But in this day and age I would prefer my stops to be either in the origin or destination country to eliminate the variable of having to deal with the rules and regulstions of a 3rd country. For example during the pandemic if you had a flight via HKG, all you would have to show for your journey is a travel voucher while you were still at your origin city.
No its not.
The ex-DL product is phenomenal. I was on a SFO-BLR flight in J. Comfortable pajamas, pretty nice TUMI amenity kit, great food and drinks, phenomenal service (something i have not experienced in a long, long time), plus saved me almost 10 hours round trip in journey time over the one stop alternative with QR.
Definitely fly them again.
Chennai airport is a dump (yes, even the new terminal) in comparison to Mumbai or Delhi (or Hyderabad or Bengaluru). The facility may be new but the AAI sarkari babu mentality makes the airport a nightmare from user experience perspective. When that changes, the airport may become viable as a hub for the South and maybe even SE Asia. Until then, Chennai is a backwater barely one step above Kolkata on the aviation ladder.
They didn't announce it. Social media had some ads recently that seemed to be AI generated and linked random city pairs in the US and India (BOS/LAX/DFW/IAH to BOM/DEL/CCU/HYD/BLR/AMD/COK). Of course, Indian aviation twitter went bonkers in excitement but they are calming down now.
Air India is a terrible airline and has a very long way to go in its nascent efforts to reinvent itself.
Yes, not helpful.
AI is doing a great job with upgrading aircraft, service, and getting rid of bad "apples" TERRIBLE employees! Indians are very lovely people overall, and I am rooting for AI to succeed.
Having flown Vistara many times, I believe its possible.
Terrible employees? The most visible change after the Tata takeover IS the quality of crew. Their attitude toward customers in general has improved significantly over recent years, if not many outdated planes still flying around.
The weekly direct from Hyderabad to Chicago to be restored and also new weekly flights are required for Hyderabad to new York or New Jersey, Hyderabad to San Francisco
It will help the parents who is visiting their children and also for the young parents who are traveling with young children
Yes
The direct flights from southern states to USA is required now with so many are in USA
They are lovely people who support Russia!!
They seem to be nice people but they are selfish at their core.
Air india has come a long way. Only airline “allowed” to fly over Russia (far away from the conflict zone) which saves me 2 hours for my connections. Been taking them for business lately and they have been so much better. The ones who complain, will always complain. But I feel they have become really good lately. thier sister airline (vistara) is also better and the 14th best airline in the world. For the price air india offers it’s tickets, don’t expect fireworks. But overall, I will give them a good 7.9 for the quality of food, staff and peace of mind for my connections.
Any advice for how to book Air India premium economy from JFK/EWR to Male? Tried both direct on their site and via google flights to Air India, but does not go through.
I recently flew from Mumbai to New York on Air India's newly leased 777 October 25th to be exact. Although the seats were quite comfortable and spacious, the attitudes of the air hostess was not welcoming. Although they say namaste at the door when you enter, once on board the pleasent smile disappers and the nasty attitude kicks in. They are rude and appeared annoyed to provide service when needed. I actually called for service several times using the call button and no one came to my seat. This kind of nasty behaviour by flight attendents will actually turn off passengers no matter how posh and comfortable your new planes would be.
New renovations on aircraft is good. But more education and awareness plus discipline must be taught to Indian passengers, staff and crew. Especially being courteous and respectful to others and use the toilets properly and keep it clean. Hygiene is also another concern. If all these are above average then AI will compete with 4 star & 5 star airlines. Good Attitude is a must !
That’s what the main issue with Indians on AI staff or crew that’s Indian style. They are rude, annoyed, selfish, attitude issues, careless, no concern, not courteous, not friendly, not cooperative. Other side Indian passengers also give problems to the staff and crew, Anove all the Indians have so much pride and ego. It all adds to create an unpleasant travel. Hope new ownership will rectify these issues along with aircraft renovation which is commonly known as attitude problem.
They should start Mumbai to DC route soon, sure it will be one of the most popular and profitable one!