This is definitely not a good look for Air India, especially given everything we’ve seen at the airline in recent times.
Continue reading: Intoxicated Air India Boeing 777 Captain Delays Vancouver Flight By Seven Hours
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Obviously, not cool.
YVR-DEL via VIE is an interesting route. Wonder if this is to avoid Russian/Chinese airspace, or, just to operate a fifth-freedom route, like, SQ’s JFK-FRA-SIN.
I was so excited when Tata stepped into buy Air India. I was hoping they'd be the company to turn the airline around and really give people a better option to get directly to India. So far, that has not been the case 🙁 I hope they figure it out
I flew Air India last year from Colombo to Mumbai and was pretty sure I caught the flight attendants either stealing or consuming alcohol in the back galley.
After reporting it to the lead attendant, the ground staff and Air India customer service the best I got from them was they would investigate.
I really pushed for the ground staff to investigate at the point we deplaned but they couldn't manage to find anyone to report to or do anything.
Air India also failed to get back to me about the investigation they performed.
In hindsight I should have pushed to talk to the captain but I will never fly Air India again
@1990 Air India flights currently cannot overfly Pakistan, resulting in the technical stop in Vienna for a lot of North American routes when headwinds prevent a nonstop flight. AI doesn't have fifth freedom rights between Austria and Canada or the USA.
All credit goes to the person who reported the pilot to the authorities. He saved lives.
They cannot fly over Pakistan, so have to do a technical stop in Vienna. It is actually on the article.
Quite the opposite. I find it hard to imagine you could put safeguards in place that would protect anonymous reporting of colleagues that wouldn’t leave them feeling the risk of reprisals.
What article? Ben didn't say that in his 'article.'
Also, that doesn't explain why Vienna over other options.
Ah, so, no one gets on or off. Good to know. Thanks for clarifying. Had no idea about this. I don't frequent Air India or that particular routing (Vancouver to Delhi, etc.)
Happy new year. Although it’s a serious allegation, I also note that Air India constantly breaches privacy and names passengers and crew. Irrespective of what happened, the name should be redacted. I’ve also seen AI staff publishing internal documents on social media. I wouldn’t trust anyone booking with them.
How come they had a standby crew in YVR?
Unless you’re called by a court to act as a witness, they would never tell you anything as it’s an allegation. No company will ever provide you with details of an internal investigation.
"I always find it dismaying how it’s so rarely the crews that report an intoxicated colleague."
Not saying this is proper but I do suspect crew often encourage their colleagues to "call in sick", when they suspect intoxication.
What a year it was for Air India. In just 12 months, we saw:
-Passengers urinating on each other
-Drunk Pilots
-Diversions when passengers were doing laundry and washing vegetables in laboratory
-Suicidal pilot that murdered 241 people
Hadn't heard any stories about pax defecating in the aisles, but that's such common practice in India that those incidents likely went unreported.
Pilot suicide is the most likely explanation for the 787 that crashed after takeoff. Fuel cutoff switches don't just move themselves to the off position.
A quick look at other AI West coast flights, and AI176 from SFO was delayed 21 hours on the 23rd. Whilst it still departed before this flight was scheduled, I wonder if a crew out of place related to the SFO delay helped recover the YVR flight
By the way, is attempting to operate a passenger aircraft while intoxicated not an arrestable offense? and this pilot was not criminally detained on the spot?
After I watched a documentary on India and China, I came across one comment that brilliantly and accurately captures India so we will better understand India's deeply entrenched culture that will never be reformed.
" In the grand theater of global geopolitics, India stands as a colossal paradox, a nation brimming with potential yet perpetually ensnared in the webs of external influence and internal disarray. Despite its aspirations to sovereignty and superpower status, India finds itself inexorably positioned as an ally, servant, or subject to more dominant forces. This predicament is not merely a quirk of history but a structural inevitability, rooted in systemic patronage, institutional decay, and a fragmented national ethos. To understand this, one must dissect the layers of dysfunction that undermine India's autonomy, from its military and legal apparatuses to its fractured polity and duplicitous foreign policy. At the heart of India's vulnerabilities lies a pervasive culture of patronage, where appointments and promotions in critical institutions are dictated not by merit but by caste affiliations, religious loyalties, or political connections. This malaise is starkly evident in the nation's armed forces: the Indian Air Force, Army, and Navy, once envisioned as bulwarks of national defense, have devolved into second-tier entities plagued by inefficiency and favoritism. The police force fares even worse, resembling less a guardian of public order than a cadre of well-armed enforcers, often complicit in extortion and brutality. The rule of law, ostensibly enshrined in India's democratic framework, exists more as an aberration than a norm, enforced sporadically and selectively, contingent upon the whims of those in power. Constitutional observance, too, is a matter of expedient interpretation, bending to the prevailing winds of political expediency rather than upholding universal principles. This internal rot extends to India's polity, which remains profoundly fractured along linguistic, regional, and ideological fault lines. Unlike cohesive nation-states that rally around shared objectives, India grapples with a conspicuous absence of unity of purpose. National goals are obscured by parochial interests, and the federation's centrifugal forces, exacerbated by disputes between the center and states, undermine any semblance of coherent governance. Compounding this is India's myopic obsession with China, a fixation that has proven both distracting and humiliating. In the early 21st century, as India preened over its burgeoning middle class, the largest in the world at the time, China methodically transformed itself into the globe's manufacturing powerhouse. Today, a quarter-century later, India scrambles to emulate that model, its ambitions thwarted by the very divisions that allowed China to surge ahead unencumbered. Foreign policy, ostensibly a domain of strategic acumen, reveals another layer of duplicity. India operates a bifurcated machinery: the official channel, spearheaded by the eloquent and assertive External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, projects a veneer of diplomatic sophistication. Yet, paralleling this is an unofficial apparatus dominated by sensationalist media figures such as Arnab Goswami and Palki Sharma. These television personalities, far from embodying journalistic integrity, peddle a brand of outrage journalism that is loud, brash, and bereft of nuance. Their broadcasts, marred by grammatical lapses, mispronunciations, and a cavalier disregard for news prioritization, routinely flout international norms by labeling adversaries with inflammatory epithets like "terrorist" states. This selective indignation conveniently sidesteps India's own domestic afflictions: rampant drug addiction, entrenched sexism and gender discrimination, dowry-related femicides, caste-based atrocities of the most grotesque variety, political corruption, police malfeasance, and virulent religious bigotry. In stark contrast, China's more regimented society, albeit authoritarian, prioritizes order and progress, unburdened by such pervasive chaos. Historical grievances further illuminate India's propensity for self-sabotage. The 1962 Sino-Indian War, often invoked as a symbol of Chinese aggression, was in fact precipitated by India's own provocations. By permitting U.S. forces to train Tibetan insurgents on Indian soil, New Delhi actively abetted harassment against Chinese interests in Tibet, inviting the retaliatory incursion it now laments. Decades later, echoes of this hubris resurfaced in the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, where General M.M. Naravane's forces attempted a surprise maneuver amid the COVID-19 pandemic, only to suffer a decisive defeat. Once again, blame was swiftly apportioned to China, absolving India of its tactical miscalculations. These episodes underscore a deeper truth: India's lack of unified language, laws, customs, and political priorities renders it ill-equipped for sustained confrontation or cooperation, unlike China's disciplined, if harsh, regime. The culmination of these frailties is evident in contemporary realpolitik. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India now seeks rapprochement with China not from a position of strength, but desperation, clutching at Beijing's coattails to shield its Hindu nationalist government from mounting Western scrutiny over human rights and democratic backsliding. This pivot, born of vulnerability rather than vision, epitomizes India's enduring subordination. Until it confronts its internal fissures and forges a truly cohesive identity, India will remain ensnared in the orbit of others, forever the ally, servant, or subject in a world it aspires to lead. The path to genuine independence demands introspection, reform, and unity, qualities that, for now, remain elusive."
Like I mentioned before, India is the world's largest democratic country. Yet, what has democracy brought to India? Compared it to China, a red communist country that is on its way to become an emerging non-white superpower which makes China a cardinal sin in the US eye. It did not mention India was a fertile ground to cultivate opium for Britain to flood China and lead to Opium War crippling Chinese sovereignty and autonomy. Nothing relates to the topic and it explains India's culture. India's unified language is English-- which explains its internal conditions as we see today. It is inexplicable and unacceptable to adopt a colonizer's language as a national language.
I really think Air India should be blacklisted and not allowed in EU (and all other western) airspace.... its matter of time before next tragedy will happen....
These people are obviously not capable to operate a reliable airline
Corruption is a human problem, not just an Indian problem. We all need to work on this, at home and abroad.
As for India and China, yeah, Western corporations and their owners have shifted service and manufacturing industries to these two countries, mostly, and it has enriched and empowered them, at the expense of us back home. While I’m pleased that more humans get opportunities there, we need to do something for our own domestic workers, because otherwise they are getting left behind, and soon enough, won’t ‘take it’ anymore. The right-wing xenophobic populism is a partial reaction to this (I’d argue that’s the ‘bad’ way. See Trump, Brexit, etc.) The better way would be an inclusive progressivism that some are trying (see NYC, recently). I’m sure some will disagree, but, it’s kinda where we are. Meanwhile, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, so… yeah, let’s ‘do something’ instead of propping up that status quo, please.
YYZ and ORD are operating vía VIE on westbound sectors. YVR and SFO have been operating via CCU as stopovers, but I wonder if also the Delhi fog situation is wreaking is local havoc again this time of year, requiring YVR to also go via VIE?
I wonder also if OS does their servicing in VIE.