I flew Air India Toronto-YYZ to Delhi-DEL (with stops in Birmingham and Amritsar) in late August 2005 and returned to Canada on the same route 3 weeks later. I intentionally chose this carrier over Al Italia, who had the cheapest fare, since I’d heard negative feedback on their cabin service. I selected this route because of its late Friday night departure would allow me a full day of work and I figured that it would be unlikely that my luggage would be lost since I’d be on the same plane for the entire trip.

DELAYS

The flight was delayed over 14 hours. I learned of the delay when I checked the Toronto airport web site. Air India took a while to update its customer service line recording for passengers. There was an extra security check in the gate area prior to boarding the flight at Pearson. This consisted of a bunch of very young looking security guards haphazardly waving a metal detector over passengers and hand luggage.

SERVICE

The customer service was TERRIBLE! I have flown extensively for business and pleasure and do not consider myself to be a high maintenance passenger. At first I thought I was having a bad dream as I could not imagine that this was really happening. As we boarded the flight, one of the senior cabin crew refused to help a very frail, elderly gentleman put his hand luggage into the overhead bin; a passenger had to step in to assist him. The same flight attendant proceeded to throw apple & mango juice boxes at passengers during the drink service and then brusquely slammed sleeping passengers’ seats into the upright position at the beginning of the meal service. On the return journey, the stewardess giving the safety instructions got confused and started giggling and did not complete the demonstration.

The toilets were flooded and filthy during the entire trip on both my outbound and return flights. One washroom door was even unhinged and the other was missing its soap dispenser just minutes after the pilot had turned off the seat belt sign.

STOPS

We stopped very briefly in Birmingham, in the middle of the night, on the way to India and remained on board. On the way back, we deplaned in Birmingham, but were forced to stay in a guarded gate that had limited bathroom facilities. I’m not sure if this is standard practice at this airport or Air India specific. However, I’ve always been free to roam the entire duty free area at all other international airports I have been to.

LUGGAGE

They didn’t lose it! However, on my return journey, my suitcase was damp and there was no rain at Pearson nor at any stops along the way.

I will never fly Air India again! I’ve shared this terrible tale with all my friends who are planning a trip to India and recommended they use Singapore Airlines or any European carrier.