Flight was very late as it was on its return leg from Kuwait. Was on the routing Kuwait/Cochin/Madras/Bombay.

Crew were old, but there was a young, well-groomed, very pretty and very articulate airhostess. Unfortunately, she was very aggressive too and had an intimidating body language, maybe the result of a largely blue collar male, and uncouth, passenger profile on board.

The aircraft, an Airbus A310, was fit to be scrapped as junk given the state of its interiors. Seat belts were terribly frayed and caked with layers of dirt and grime.

Almost had a laugh when going through the inflight magazine (The airline's Chairman Mr. V. Thulasidas, speaks of refurbished interiors and premier inflight service that one can look forward too, as the airline is believed to be unveiling a major and expensive inflight upgradation programme with internet, DVD quality audio/video on demand, telephone/laptop facility in every seat, and this is for even Economy Class passengers.) We got only a sandwich and two juice cartoons packaged in the Gulf. Had to demand our cup of coffee though.

Inflight short movie and BBC world news digests, or whatever they were supposed to be, and the safety video, were a mess on a shabby main screen.

On boarding, we were nearly overcome by an overpowering stench/odour akin to warm curry and musty cloth/smelly socks. May be it had to do with the predominantly curry menu/Indian food that Air India serves and the state of the interiors, toilets and passengers.

This 50-minute flight was ruined further by the fact that there was no seats to move to (it was a nearly full flight) as the passenger/s in front was -- no jokes -- passing wind intermittently.

Will fly this airline again ONLY because its fares are a bargain and on a sector to the UK/Europe/Canada or the US, which I hear is wonderful, and which use Boeing 747/777 planes --unlike its West Asia, Africa, South East Asian sectors where it uses its horrendous Airbus aircraft.

Only blessing on this flight was the ample legroom.