Air India - the worst Business Class flying out of Melbourne
Air India – the worst Business Class flying out of Melbourne My wife and I recently flew Air India Business Class from Melbourne to Heathrow and return. Unfortunately, it was the poorest international travel experience we have ever had. Before we even departed, our itinerary was changed five times, creating unnecessary stress. While travelling, it changed another two times, leaving us with little confidence in the airline’s reliability The original itinerary, one stop itinerary had a travel time of 25 hours outbound and a similar time for the return. After the many changes the actual itinerary resulted in a travel time of 33 hours outbound and 40 hours for the return (including 15 hours in Delhi). The first outbound aircraft to Delhi was old and the Business Class cabin felt cramped. There was no separation in the seating from the passenger sitting next to me. As someone who is 6’2”, I found the seat very uncomfortable for such a long journey. The audio video was very basic, and the food was very poor with limited Western choice - well below the standard expected in Business Class. The cabin crew appeared largely disinterested in providing any quality service. Our transit through Delhi was chaotic. After the layover now of 9 hours compared to the original 2 hours, the boarding process was disorganized and crowded, resembling a rugby scrum rather than an international Business Class experience. The return journey was even more disappointing. At check-in we were again charged for our sporting equipment despite Air India having changed its policy to waive the fee if advance notice was given. Neither Air India nor our travel agent had advised us of this requirement to give advance notice that we had sporting equipment, making the charge of AUD240 seem both unfair and avoidable. Again, the boarding process was disorganized and crowded, resembling a rugby scrum. The departure was over an hour late compounding the fact that our itinerary had again been changed from an originally scheduled 1 hour 50-minute connection in Delhi to a 15-hour layover. The seating in the second outbound aircraft was again very cramped and substandard. The food on the return flight was even worse. The dry fish, stale bread, and frozen butter was so poor that it had to be sent back untouched. There was virtually no choice of Western-style meals. Although the return aircraft was newer, it was still cramped and uncomfortable for a passenger of my height. For a Business Class product, Air India failed in almost every area that matters - reliability, communication, comfort, catering, customer service and ground operations. After this experience, we would not fly Air India again and could not recommend the airline to anyone expecting the level of service normally associated with international Business Class travel