Indian all the Way !!! "Updated on Food/Ground Service"
Written: Dec 24 '03 (Updated Dec 24 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good Food, Friendly Crew, Very Indian.
Cons: Appalling IFE, Bad Maintanence, Poor Ground Handling
The Bottom Line: Yes Go for it.
Great Prices, Warm Friendly Crew, Nice Food.
Distinctly Indian
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| mano93's Full Review: Air India |
I have flown AIR-INDIA on many Sectors, ORD-LHR-BOM (4), JFK-LHR-BOM-MAA (2), MAA-SIN-MAA (2) on both Business Class and Economy. I have also flown Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic & Lufthansa to draw parallels.
Service: Both on coach and executive, I have always been greeted by Warm and friendly cabin staff. They help you with your bags and get you settled. One instance, I have seen an Air-Hostess, take care of an infant (abt 6 months I guess) for over 15-20 minutes, and help the mother with the baby. I have never seen this in any other airline I have travelled. Believe me, this happened in coach.
Food: Food is by-far the best in Air-India. It gives non-Indians a good glimpse of Indian Cuisine without going overboard on spices. Vegetarian is widely available and Continental Options are available (not always) on the ORD-LHR sector for those not willing to try Indian. In all my trips, I have seen that AI crew do not give WATER when asked. It is always a small glass. This happens even in Executive class.
The food for a typical Lunch/Dinner in Coach would be
Main Course: Rice with 2 Indian Curries (Veg or Non-Veg) as per choice. This is the basic difference between Veg/Non-Veg food. If Continental is available it will be mostly Chicken with some Pasta.
COACH:
Salad(Fruit or Veggie)-Either(no choice),
Indian Bread (2 Small No's Wrapped in foil)
Sweet: Generally Indian (No Choice in Coach)
Yogurt, Croissants(1)(generally Dry),Alcohol(Scotch,Vodka,Just one Wine, Drinks limited to 2), Tea/Coffee and other assortments like pickles, butter, cheese, Indian Snack (similar to Pretzels) etc.
EXECUTIVE: (Served in China,Spread over 3 Courses)
Soup (Either Veg or Non Veg)
Appetizers (Choice of Veg(Indian), Non-Veg(Continental))
Main Course as explained above
Indian Bread (Choice of 3), Re-heated and moistened
Yogurts, Assortment of Croissants/Breads
Wine, Champagne, Scotch, Vodka etc
Dessert: Indian Sweet or Souffle
Fruits: Assortment of Fruit Basket(Typical Indian Tradition) or Fruit Salad
Tea/Coffee
Chocolate.
PS: Water is something you do not get served until asked for specifically- Dont know why !
First Class: You have the choice to Pre-Order your meal. I have not travelled First Class in any airline to comment on it.
Portions are quite generous across all classes. Just to compare, If Air-India, Singapore and Lufthansa were to serve Mc.Donald's fries, AI/SQ would serve 'Large Order of Fries' while LH would serve 'Small Order'. I believe that when it comes to portions, it has more to do with the Culture. AI/SQ or other Asian airlines serve larger portions- this is similar to their culture, as we see most Asian Cultures give great importance to food/variety relative to European Cultures.
Planes: The planes have a worn out look and does not reflect the Indian spirit at all. IFE is appalling and please, spare us of Indian movies. The headsets have definitely seen better days. Economy class seats are very cramped on the 747-400's and look old. Re-furbishing the interiors is in order.
Ground Service: Service out of Chicago is very quiet, simple and detailed-makes one feel safe after 9/11.
New-York-JFK is a nightmare in itself, but a part of it is because the airport itself is a nightmare.
Bombay is a Soap Opera set. Although they have exclusive terminals and you see AI Staff loitering (Pardon my word) all around, not very many are helpful. Over-booked flights are quite common and unless you have 'Re-Confirmed your reservations atleast 72 Hrs Prior to Departure, Denied Boarding is a possibility'. This is stated as a pre-req for all Economy class passengers, a fact often not told by Travel agents. Travel Agents also at times issue Tickets to Passengers without confirming their seats in the hope that it will get confirmed by their date of travel which case it is the Travel Agents fault and not the Airlines fault. Finally you have waitlisted passengers showing up at the airport to see if they can get a seat. Air-India does not have or atleast I havent seen them follow a 'Stand-By' Policy. So,right before 1 hr of boarding, the drama starts, when everyone of them start pouncing on the DUTY OFFICER in-charge.
Security Screening is done by the Airport Officials not related to the airlines at all and they work at their own sweet pace not bothered while you see Airline Staff getting increasingly pressured while their flight is being held at the gate for passengers.
Like all other things, passengers scramble when boarding is announced, irr of a policy to board according to seat numbers. This adds chaos to the already confused state.
Baggage & Customs on arrival is a another nightmare in itself. One is much better off flying into Madras/Chennai or Bangalore than flying into Mumbai/Bombay. And please, do not even attempt New-Delhi, corruption at its worst.
Overall I have had pleasant experiences on-board Air-India and I feel that the AI crew remind me of humans and smile a lot, a feature that is DISTINCTLY missing in the European Carriers.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mano93
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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