I did not know it was possible for anyone in the world to be such hopeless jerks as the Air India staff. Have they come from some crime infested ghettos? They just get together and start shouting at the top of their voices at you if you complain about anything.
I remember now once Russi Modi had come to our institute as a guest. Among other things the told us of his experiences of Air India. You know once he was chairman of AI+ IA combined. He told us how utterly ignorant and callous people, totally unaware of any aspect of air travel are sitting in the ministry and top levels of babudom in this organization. He left after a few months of racking his head against this mad machinery.
Anyway I was travelling for the first time in Air India. First they gave me a combined ticket from Newark to Bangalore via mumbai. They when I went to ticket counter they said "SYSTEM DOES NOT ALLOW US" to do a through check-in till Bangalore. So you wil have to take all your baggage, go thru all the rigmarole of security at Mumbai and then board the sahara flight to bangalore. But SYSTEM allowed them to issue this idiotic ticket. First time I encountered anything like this. Now you know which part of their anatomy their SYSTEM should be stuck up..
Other plus points:
As someone rightly said, their terminals and counters are the worst you will encounter anywhere in the US. Its as if the authorities have left these social outcasts to fend for themselves.
Tha blankes aboard the flight smelt dirty.
Seats were small and old.
Huge tv screens for a whole bunch of seats showing the most awful programs. Imagine the plight of ppl who have got seats just before the screen. They cant sleep they cant remain awake. They are in a hell. And of course, no eye shades are provided, even after asking. They dont have them. Maybe someone ate the money that was meant to buy eye shades.
Bad, stale food.
Earphones not working.
No cold water , tap water like you are in a dhaba.
Well, what more do you do in an airline - ticketing, food, seat, entertainment, staff attitude and onward travel. everything was filthy.
Male staff was old, jarring and ugly. Similary female staff. Felt very sad for them. I heard recently some of their staffs’ noses were broken by passengers somwhere because of their horrible inefficiency. No wonder they treat customers like enemies.
There are a lot of village folk etc travelling in Air India. They are generaly very quiet and put up with anything. Or maybe the dirty plane made everyone look like a rustic herd- I dont know. Why I didnt do enuf research, why I thought I will save some money, will remain my eternal regret. I had never imagined things could be so abysmal. That’s a trademark of bad people, they make you feel guilty about their own sins.
It was the worst travel of my life. the change from international to domestic flight in mumbai was nerve wrecking. My pregnant wife was with me. I wish everyone working for Air India the very worst in life.