Indian Airlines

Pros: Good food, clean planes, some nice staff
Cons: Poor punctuality, airport service needs improvement

A lot of people have a lot of bad things to say about Indian Airlines. They tut, shake their head, roll their eyes. Even cringe. For many years India had just two airline, both state-run: Air India, who did the international flying, and Indian ...

Pros: Meals, service
Cons: delay

Indian Airlines has come along way. My first trip on Indian Airlines was in 1988, when I took a trip from Madras to Delhi. The service was limited (no food), but the flight crew was friendly. It was similar to the service that I received on domestic ...

Pros: Good value.
Cons: Aged planes; delay / cancellation risk.

We just returned from Germany flying Indian Airlines from Los Angeles to Frankfurt. We selected Indian Airlines based on price and schedule. We flew economy. After booking the tickets, I read reviews on IA and got quite concerned. I'd like to ...

Pros: Indian Airline are not customer focussed and are money minded.
Cons: Poor and Pathetic Service

I booked an online ticket from Chennai to Pune to travel on 6th September 2006 as per my selection criteria and completed my booking through Indian Airlines IC 935/559 via Hyderabad (PNR No.RHZU6E) for Rs.4955/-. Immediately after printing my tickets I ...

Pros: Was the only Airline operating to Goa from Kuwait. Now we have Air India.
Cons: Utter disregard for passengers. Highly discriminatory.

Had a meeting with the Indian Airlines - Country Manager - Kuwait who was extremely courteous, patient and concerned about the various problems faced by Passengers. He readily agreed to address the issues with his Airport staff and find a solution. ...

Pros: There is nothing PRO about this Airline. They have horrible luggage handling equipment and people.
Cons: foreigners beware: Indian Airlines will destroy your luggage and not compensate you.

I travelled from US to Mumbai, India, via Air France in December 2006. I made a side trip to Aurangabad via Indian Airlines. While returning to Mumbai from Auraganbad, one of my bags was torn at all seams, probably due to stacking of a lot of other luggage on it. I lodged a complaint and the airline person told me that their policy is to repair the bag - even though the bag is unusable in my view. I had to leave for the USA within 4 hours. I got the bag wrapped in plastic wrapper all-around and arrived in the US. I bought a new bag and sent the bill to Indian Airlines. The response I got was (1) We offered to repair the bag, but I declined. (2) Since the bag was able to tolerate the rigorous travel to the US, the bag is usable. I still have the bag, but it is not usable at all.

The only conclusion I can draw is that if tourists travel via Indian Airlines, they can damage your bags with impunity and then not compensate you.