Hello from Malaysia, as I just flew Air India’s Airbus A320neo business class on the 5hr25min flight from Delhi (DEL) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL), as part of my review trip. In the previous installment, I shared my impressions of Air India’s Airbus A350-900 business class, so I was looking forward to seeing how Air India’s regional refreshed workhorse stacks up.
It’s hard to know how exactly to judge these A320neos, since your perception is likely different depending on whether you’re flying this aircraft on a short sector within India, or are flying it to Southeast Asia, as I was. I’d describe these planes as being comfortable enough but pretty bare bones, and definitely more ideal for regional flights. On the plus side, the cabin was spotlessly clean and modern, and the crew was friendly.
Let me share some initial impressions, and then soon I’ll have a full trip report…
Air India’s A320neo business class seats are familiar
Air India’s A320neo business class cabin consists of just eight seats, spread across two rows, in a 2-2 configuration. These seats should look very familiar if you’ve flown American, or any of a number of other airlines. Specifically, it’s the Collins Aerospace MiQ product.
On the plus side, it’s about the best version of it that you’ll find in terms of comfort, as seats have 40″ of pitch, 20″ of width, 7″ of recline, a six-way adjustable head rest, a personal device holder, a leg rest, a foot bar, and AC and USB-A outlets.
This is definitely a very simple product, though it’s a significant upgrade over Air India’s previous A320neo cabins, which felt super outdated. So yeah, it’s not necessarily much, but it’s better. And the cabin was also spotlessly clean, which was nice.
Again, perception here really depends on the route, given that these planes partly operate short domestic hops, and partly operate in markets where you might otherwise find wide bodies with flatbeds.
Air India’s A320neos lack good entertainment & Wi-Fi
As you can probably tell above, Air India took the American approach when it comes to seat back entertainment, by not having any. On the plus side, there was streaming entertainment, with a respectable selection of movies and TV shows to choose from.
I actually don’t mind not having seat back entertainment, though what disappointed me most was not having Wi-Fi. No seat back entertainment and no Wi-Fi on flights of this length just isn’t competitive nowadays, especially for a newly reconfigured aircraft. Hopefully Air India eventually installs Wi-Fi on these planes.
Air India’s business class service is super attentive
Here’s what’s perhaps most impressive about Air India’s A320neo business class — the cabin is staffed with two flight attendants, despite having only eight seats. On my flight, the cabin was half full, so talk about an amazing flight attendant to passenger ratio!
Gypsy and Divisha were working business class on this flight, and they were both friendly and attentive. In particular, they did a great job handling a very complicated family seated right behind business class. I don’t know how many kids that family had, but they kept running up through the curtain to play, and the parents did nothing about it.
Of course kids will be kids, but the parents also seemingly did nothing to try to entertain them, and just let them run around and scream. At one point they had a shouting match to see how could tell “poo poo” the loudest (okay, they were little kids, I don’t blame them for that!). The crew handled that the best they could, so kudos to them.
Air India’s business class catering is relatively good
I found the catering setup on this flight to be interesting. On the one hand, it was very similar to the long haul flight, with menus and drink lists being distributed. The drink list was even identical to the A350 flight, including Laurent Perrier champagne being poured at the seat, which was a nice touch.
Meanwhile I felt that the meal service was rather abbreviated. On a daytime flight of over five hours, you’d think that you could course out the meal a bit, especially given the lack of Wi-Fi or seat back entertainment. On the plus side, the meal service began with drinks and mixed nuts, which was a nice touch.
The menu showed there being a starter and a main course. For the starter, I ordered the mediterranean tapas, described as including marinated artichoke, marinated feta, grilled pepper, green olive, and zucchini. Then for the main course, I ordered the awadhi paneer anjeer pasanda, described as consisting of fig layered cottage cheese with cream tomato ginger gravy, cumin, basmati pilaf, and vegetables.
Below is the tray I was presented. At first I thought the crew forgot to serve me the appetizer, but I think that salad looking thing at the top is actually intended to be the appetizer. At least it had all of the individual ingredients in there (including a single olive). Okay, that’s not typically what I’d call mediterranean tapas, but to each their own! The food was quite tasty, at least.
Then there was the choice of dessert, a fruit plate, and/or cheese. I ordered yet another delicious dessert… yum!
By the way, Air India’s pre-departure drink service on this sector was quite the acquired taste. It wasn’t champagne this time around, but instead, sugarcane or buttermilk juice. I went with the latter, and it was… distinctive.
Bottom line
Air India has just finished reconfiguring its A320neos with new interiors, and I’m happy I had the chance to fly on one of these planes. On the plus side, the cabins feel modern and fresh. At the same time, they’re also pretty bare bones, in terms of lack of seat back entertainment, plus no Wi-Fi.
The service on the flight was excellent, given that two flight attendants were dedicated to a cabin of just eight seats. Elements of the soft product were impressive as well, like the Laurent Perrier champagne. However, it still feels to me like a little more effort could be put into the meal.
So yeah, I’d describe it as a mixed bag experience. On a short domestic flight, I’d be very happy with one of these planes. However, when flying to or from Southeast Asia on a flight of this length, I’d definitely seek out one of the flights with flat beds, if possible.
What do you make of Air India’s A320neo business class?
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