I know I know Air India gets a lot of slack for their service. BUT, being an American who’s traveled via London to Mumbai at least 5 times, 4 of which were on BA, I was not at all dissapointed with service from Chicago to London. Seat space was great, definitely more than BA or any of the American domestic airlines, and the food was amazing. Since when do other airlines serve fresh tropical fruit like mango and papaya for dinner AND breakfast (along with other goodies of course). And seriously, if you don’t like Indian food or being surrounded by Indian people, don’t fly an Indian airline! I hope that’s obvious.
Regardless, flight from Chicago to London was amazing. Great service, free liquor, nice attendants, and on time. No problems.
Flight from London to Mumbai --- ehh that’s another story. It wasn’t bad persay, but there was an obvious difference in quality of service -- food was worse, service was worse, I’m not sure if the staff was the same but I don’t think so since we switched flights in the airport and went through another very speedy security check. (Standard procedure, again, so don’t complain about it -- just fly more!). It was obvious though that Air India was trying desperately to impress their Chicago to London passengers more than their London to Mumbai -- probably because there is less demand for AI the Chicago to London route than the London to Mumbai route.
Overall, though, the flight was absolutely not as painful as is being written up as. The call centers are terrible though, if AI wants more Chicago to London passengers, their Indian call centers better have people who can speak English. [EDIT] However, I am crossing my fingers for my return flight Mumbai to Chicago through Frankfurt. I’ll update once I’m back in the states.
[EDIT]. Okay here’s an update on this review -- the call centers and customer service representatives ARE TERRIBLE. The call centers can’t speak English at all, and the in-person staff at the Bangalore Office are some of the RUDEST people I’ve ever encountered as a paying customer for ANY service PERIOD. Talk about not caring one bit about you-- Air India is terrible and just my experience with their service reps is enough to make me never want to fly again!