Since the Tata Group took over Air India, the management had promised drastic changes in both service and user experience. It’s now time to find out what has changed and what remains the same.
Today, we are flying on a red eye flight from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai) to Kempegowda International Airport (Bengaluru).
Air India: Mumbai to Bengaluru
Flight Details
- Flight Number – AI 621
- Departure Airport – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai)
- Arrival Airport – Kempegowda International Airport (Bengaluru).
- Registration – VT-PPV, 13.5 Years old during the time of flight
- Aircraft Type – Airbus A321
Pre-Check-in Experience
Air India initially had one of the worst applications ever, and I have always faced issues with it. But ever since the take-over by Tata Group, things have changed drastically.
Now the UI offers a decent user experience and it has become easy to navigate in their application. There are still certain issues – once the user enters their last name and NR, the app goes to another webpage. You are then required to enter the PNR and last name again along with captcha, and only then one can proceed to web check-in.
Arrival at Mumbai Airport
I had arrived at Mumbai airport from Delhi on-board Vistara, I had almost 12 hours to kill before my next flight hence I decided to go around and explore the city.
As I have pointed out in each trip report, Mumbai airport lacks a basic connection to city using Public Transport. Hence, taxi is the only viable option.
Check-in
After exploring for a while, I reached airport at around 11:15pm IST and to my surprise the domestic check-in counters of Air India were closed. The staff there were busy chit-chatting with each other, and when I enquired, the agent at the gate was not keen on opening the counter for me.
He asked me to wait till 11:45pm (my flight was scheduled to depart at 03:55 am the next day). Seeing my reaction, he guided me to go towards the staff travel counter. Upon reaching there, I was bounced again towards the international check-in counters.
I was trying hard to not lose my cool. I walked across and stood in the line waiting for my turn, only to be turned away again. They said only domestic counters can check me in.
At this point I already had sour experience with them, and I was on the verge of losing my cool, when a staff member noticed the entire situation and approached me,. He promptly took me over to the first-class check-in where finally I was able to check-in for my flight.
I do not understand the approach taken by the airline; by far all my experiences with the Air India staff have been disappointing. They lack the proper training in customer service or just do not want to do their job.
For example, the staff at the domestic check-in counter could have simply collected the bag and finished the process. Instead there was bunch of agents who were busy chatting or on their phone. Through this whole process, I had to drag my 23kg luggage bag across the terminals between their counters for almost 30 minutes.
Security Check
Given the late-night scenario there was hardly any line at security and I was able to get done with it in just 5-7 minutes.
Lounge at Mumbai Airport
I have reviewed both the Adani lounge and Adani Business lounge here at Mumbai airport. But this time I was not interested in going to the lounge. Instead I bought myself acCoffee and enjoyed the view of apron from the food court.
Boarding Experience
Boarding of this flight had started way before the scheduled boarding time and by the tie I reached the aircraft almost all the passengers were seated. As soon as you enter the aircraft I was greeted with a huge smile and energetic crew.
The Seat
This section of Air India is both good and bad, so let me dive deep in. Unlike other airlines who have the same shade on all their seats, Air India has seats in both red and orange. The window seat and aisle seats have red designed covers, and the middle seats have orange ones. This looks bright and beautiful, I must say.
Now coming to leg space, I would say its what the airline is known for. I was seated in 30A, which was neither a premium seat nor a emergency exit row. However, I still had ample leg space, and going by LCC standards this would be sold as Premium seat.
Now coming to the cons of this seat, the seatbelts were worn out and had food stains on it. The seat cover itself was dusty, and was stained. It felt like it had never been cleaned, the windows were dirty and, in my case, there were scratches.
In-flight Service
Soon after take-off the cabin crew started meal service, in my last flight with Air India on this sector (BOM—BLR) Air India served only veg cold sandwich. They introduced some new policy where serving of non-veg food and full meal would be limited to flights above certain duration so I did not expect much. To my surprise, the airline had resumed its meal service even on shorter flights.
I was given an option of either veg or non-veg and I decided to go with veg, the food was actually very delicious, and the desert was just yummm! They also had metal cutlery in the economy class!
Arrival at Bengaluru
We arrived after a delay of nearly 20 minutes due to congestion at Bengaluru airport.
Conclusion
Air India is still in a mix – some service provided by the airline like their meal or crew attitude is still top notch. Their leg space can be a game changer, but then sadly their ground experience and their aging product without refurbishment will hamper a passenger’s experience all in all.
The airline needs to work seriously on their staff and how a customer is being treated and that is something which is not currently hampered by the supply chain issues. After this trip I will recommend this airline only if one needs leg space and doesn’t want to spend more.
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