Air India Reviews

When I boarded the flight, one old Flight Steward came and said, "Sir, we can't take this nine-kilogram bag on our flight. You need to check in this bag and pay $200." I said, "Why do I need to check in the bag when your representative at the check-in desk allowed this baggage?" Old steward replied in a rude tone, "Sir, we don't know what they do at the check-in counter; we can't take this bag on the flight." Then I said, "Can I speak to a manager?" Then he called a manager. He came and I told him the issue. He said, "Sir, if both the carry-on baggage have, in total, 16 kilograms, then we don't have any problem," and he allowed the baggage. So here, you see two different people telling two different things. By this, I understood the management is very poor and the Air India staff don't have manners to talk with a customer politely.

Second Scenario, when I reached Mumbai Airport: when I reached Mumbai Airport, the representative at the Air India desk said, "Sir, you have a layover of six hours here so you can stay. Air India provides free dinner at Curry's Kitchen upstairs," and he wrote Curry's Kitchen on my boarding pass. I headed to second check. After completing a second check at 8:30 PM, I went to this Curry's Kitchen and showed them the boarding pass for dinner. He said, "Sir, come after 9:30." After 9:30, I went again and asked for dinner. Then he said, "Sir, we don't have any information about this; you can speak to Air India staff."

Then I went to the Air India Maharaja Lounge, which is exactly next to Curry's Kitchen, and I spoke to a catering person who was sitting at the desk. With me, there were four other people with the same issue talking to him. The Air India rep said, "Sir, I am calling the upper management, but they are not answering me properly. I don't know what to answer you." Then I said, "This is how you treat your every customer who is spending $1,000 for a ticket?"

Then he called someone from the transfer staff. The old lady with spectacles came to sort out the issue. Her name was Uma, and I discussed the issue and asked her politely, "Are you sure if I go this time to Curry's Kitchen, they will not embarrass me by saying, 'Sir, we don't have any information regarding your meal?'" This is the interesting part: instead of apologizing, she yelled at me saying, "Keep your ** American Accent with you and go eat and run away." There were two other customers and an Air India rep who witnessed this rude response. Even the Air India rep said, "Sir, what can we do when our seniors behave like this?"

I wanted to complain about that old lady Uma who spoke to me rudely. I went to the Transfer Department, which is exactly opposite the Maharaja Lounge. That old lady Uma was standing there and I asked her, "Can I get your full name and designation?" Without answering me, she ran away, as she was sure that I was gonna complain.

I went back to the Maharaja Lounge and asked the rep, "What should I do to complain?" He said, "Sir, our seniors will come in an hour here. You can speak to them." I didn't understand what the ** she had to do with my American accent??? And instead of apologizing, they are rude. No one turned up to sort out my issue. I left for my next flight to Ahmedabad.

I strongly suggest you to never, ever travel through Air India, the worst flight and customer service I have ever seen in my entire life. This is the first time I traveled through Air India and faced these problems. I always take Etihad Flight for international travel, and I never had a single complaint or issue with them in the last seven years of USA-India travel.

AIR INDIA: WORST IS NOT THE WORD FOR YOU. Your service is pathetic, and your staff and management is not there to help customers but to ruin customers' happiness who travel in your flights for 19 hours. You gave him such a pain when he wanted to rest in his layover time. I will never travel through Air India ever, and will spread my experience about your rude and worst customer service to the world. At least a few people will be saved from your worst service. Call me at ** if any Air India upper management cares to speak to me in detail about the issue I mentioned.

At 9:30, his shift changed and the next person told her to come at 3 am. She requested them to manage but the staff named Vishwas told her, "It's your problem that you come alone and you're supposed to give your luggage at the international airport only." When I requested on the phone with him that she had traveled 15 hours and seeing her age and health problem to please help her on the grounds of humanity, in contrast of helping, he showed his anger and talked in absurd language and concluded by saying, "You people are not gratifying us by traveling through Air India."

After seeing his attitude for a simple request, I pledged that in the future neither Mother nor my family will travel by Air India. Seeing the gesture we get in foreign countries, it's very unfortunate that we're not getting 1% of that in our own country and that, too, is our own national carrier.

Furthermore, we were charged a criminal amount of money for "upgraded" seats. The agent told us there were no seats left in economy class the following day, only on a flight 4 days later. We were told that we were now in "premium economy, and had been upgraded from V class to H class." This is a flat out lie, as no such categories exist on Air India; there is either first class or economy. When we boarded the plane the following evening, we discovered we had all been booked in separate rows in the back of the plane. (So our original seats were 26 A/B/C and our "upgraded" seats were in random rows 44, 45 and 47?)

Everyone we encountered at the Delhi airport was impossibly rude. The staff ignored our guide's request for help several times to chat among themselves. As a side note, the aircraft (77W) is dated and in need of repair. The seats had little to no padding, and on our return flight, my father's in-flight media broke and one lavatory was out of order. They also don't re-stock toilet paper or provide soap. Pretty disgusting.

This is a disgusting experience. I had to plead that I have a sick child at home, and I have to return. The staff were pathetic, lying creeps. They told me that flight was downgraded (from 160 seater to 120 seater). Within half an hour, in front of me, the same bald, dark, short guy tells others that they filled the AI 608 seats with passengers stranded from 7pm flight. There was not even an apology offered by the staff. They were all the time trying to make passengers believe that it is passengers’ fault (that they reported late). Horrible experience.

How can they even tamper the web check-ins? Can they not adjust the 7pm passengers in other airlines (as they did to us in the end after making us wait for 2 hours)? Isn’t there common sense and passenger convenience never in mind for dumb, clueless, impolite staff? They were even gloating that they do this every day. Most pathetic experience. This is a national carrier with tax payers’ money drained every day into it. If they start cheating passengers, where will passengers go? In the name of cost cutting, they are giving curry puffs as snacks throughout the day. Then they are lying to valid ticket holders, making them go away and possibly selling the seats to someone else. Can anything be worse?

The end result was that my son who was to catch a KLM flight from Delhi to AMS departing at 02:30 on the 24th could not do so. I had to rebook him for the flight on the 25th at an additional cost of $435. We had to make arrangements with some friends at Amritsar for him to spend the night and he was rebooked by AI to depart from Amritsar on the 24th. I sent an email to AI recounting the whole experience but of course, I did not expect any reply or apology from them. Some customer service. Never again Air India.

For my July trip, I booked an electronic ticket through Air India’s website for the 02-July-2012 (details produced below), but mistakenly it was booked Mumbai to Hyderabad whereas I had to travel from Hyderabad to Mumbai. So when I reached Hyderabad Airport and realized the oversight, I approached the Air India counter who advised me to purchase a fresh ticket and keep this ticket on hold for my next visit. They further stated that the changes will be valid for one whole year. Accordingly, I changed the said ticket to 17th of August, but when I approached Mumbai Airport on the 17th of August and tried to book a ticket for Hyderabad, they simply stated that no seats could be available in this short time and I need to book in advance by calling the call center or the Hyderabad office, etc.

As such, now I am trying to call Air India’s call center from South Sudan for 15 minutes, but it was the same electronic message that your call is on hold. Then my wife called the call center numbers from India, but the call center executives are reluctant to give proper information and stated that they could do nothing about it and I should make the changes at the place where I modified the ticket, which is nothing but Hyderabad Airport. I don't understand the necessity - are Air India offices not linked with each other or what? How can I come to Hyderabad Airport and book again for Mumbai to Hyderabad? And why at the first place your Air India staff at Hyderabad Airport advised me to keep the ticket on hold (open)?

Advise me how I can proceed with using this ticket for my upcoming trip Mumbai to Hyderabad for the October 7th, 2012. Please mind that I will be reaching Mumbai Airport from South Sudan/Ethiopia on October 6th, 2012 early morning and advise accordingly so that I am confirmed of the booking, or else I have no option but to look for other airlines and skip Air India in all future travels. I am expecting a professional approach.

The fax machine was not on and after five attempts to send the fax, a good guy gave us his personal email address (Thanks to Mr. **) who received the letter. Now that we have the letter, it was given to the check-in staff who doesn't know how to process it and were trying to contact the supervisor/manager. Somehow that gets approved, but why was the hassle needed when you did not require any such letter when we entered the country with my grandson. They said that we need this authorization all along at Delhi and JFK, but everyone was so nice at both Delhi and JFK. I have been traveling with Air India for the past 30 years and never had someone discriminate us so much as it was done in my hometown Hyderabad. I hope that someone can do something and not let people like this defame my city and country.

We arrived upon the plane exhausted and sick. The food that was given to him was so spicy that he had stomach cramps, which caused him to have convulsions on the floor. He had to rest on the floor of the plane in major pain because no space was offered to him to stretch out on. The food was not what we had asked for, we were badly treated, and he almost had to go to the emergency room upon arrival in London. It has been four days now and he still has not recovered from this experience. We will never fly with this company again.

The fax machine was not on and after five attempts to send the fax, a good guy gave us his personal email address (thanks to Mr. **) to receive the letter. Now that we have the letter, it was given to the check-in staff who doesn't know how to process it and was trying to contact the supervisor/manager. Somehow that got approved, but why was the hassle needed when you did not require any such letter when we entered the country with my grandson? Then, they saw that a couple of my bags had a kg more. We asked how much it will cost and we will pay it (I have an AmEx card and they refund us any baggage charges). The staff at check-in said they don't know. Can you believe it? If they don't know then why are they sitting there?

In the meantime, another passenger (probably related to the check-in lady) gets his bag, which is 3 kg more than mine is and got the check-in done with no problem. This is crazy. I had to remove my items in the airport lobby with my grandson who is asking for a drink, wants to go to bathroom and no one seem to even ask if they can get something for him. I just can't believe it. If no good customer service, at least have some compassion for the little child. I am an Indian but have to regretfully say that I would rather take Emirates in the future. I hope that someone in Air India check on their check-in staff and avoid such future instances.

Second incident: I took my return on 27th 1415H and flight was delayed to 1440H. I met a friend in the Chennai Airport traveling on the same flight. So both of us checked in together and the officer in the counter asked me to pay for the extra weight of 25kgs. Both of us were having allowance of 60kg and total was 85kgs. After making payments, we got our boarding passes and were heading to immigration. We got a call from Air India ground staff asking us to proceed to Customs regarding one baggage which contains inverter which is about 37kgs. After customs clearance, the duty manager threatened me to take the luggage and asked me to leave. At the same time, my friend tried to explain to the manager what happened, and then he simply said both of us had to leave the airport after refunding the amount which I paid.

I couldn’t explain why and he didn’t allow me to say a single word. He was behaving in such a poor manner as a duty manager. I, as a master mariner, was surprised to see such unprofessional behavior toward the passenger. Both of us left the place under his rude, threatening behavior. Then I managed to book a flight the next day (the 28th at 1415H) for my friend and 29th 1415H for me, paying extra. Next day, my friend flew to Colombo and I arrived on 29th for 1415H on AI273 flight. The baggage which was rejected by the Air India duty manager, I was able to put as air cargo. Unfortunately, the same manager was on duty on the 29th. Flight was on time and all passengers were boarded. Inside the flight, I was uncomfortable due to insufficient A/C. After 10 minutes, the captain announced that there was some technical issue and will call for technician.

Forty five minutes later, he made an announcement to leave the aircraft as they were unable to rectify the problem. In about 15 minutes, all passengers were packed in two buses with no A/C. Later, all passengers were kept in port complex waiting with no clue. Then I asked the duty manager (the one who kicked me out two days back) for the new flight time. His answer was, “Do not disturb us and wait," while observing his usual threat. Around 1600H, another fight was ready for Colombo and all passengers boarded the fight. On the way to Colombo, the captain apologized to the passengers for the delay saying that previous flight was suffering some serious technical issues.

I strongly do not recommend flying Air India due to the following: They didn’t accept the fault during baggage weight check and refused to take after paying all extra charges and customs clearance; Poor unprofessional senior management; This kind of people we can find in coconut or fish market not as a manager of airline ground staff. Old flights do not have enough A/C, and had heavy noise and heavy vibration in cabin. Food served on board have expiry dates; and serious technical issues were noted after all was checked by the ground technical staff and the flight was just about to fly. They lack professional pre-departure checks. I have the video clips to prove all of the above.

5. Even after take-off of the flight, A/C was not running at all and after the passengers' escalation it was switched on. Are you guys not having A/C facility also in the flight?

If you are running under loss and try to do all these kinds of cost cutting, then why are you guys running the flight service internationally? I feel you guys do not have the capability to run the flight service domestically.

My wife tried asking two different passengers if they could switch seats. One was a single Indian guy, about 20-23 years traveling by himself. He refused and said he was not moving, imagine that. Another option was to ask a couple if they would sit separately and they also said no. My wife and 3 year old daughter had to sit separately in a flight for the duration of 15+hours! After hearing about this experience, I am disgusted at Air India and I am ashamed to be an Indian.

I asked the lady sitting on counter, that I had booked for four members (one infant). She checked twice in computer and then asked her senior for our concern. I handed over my one bag for luggage to that counter on my ticket and went to her senior. That gentleman also checked and verified and said that system is showing one ticket for Nishesh **. He advised me to go to Air India booking counter and tell the details. My wife and daughters were nervous because it was around 8:20 a.m.

I followed his advice and went to the counter. There Mr. ** was sitting at the the counter. I told the details. He said the same story, that only one ticket is booked. Then I asked the availability of the two tickets in same flight. He said, "You can purchase the tickets, but confirm from the boarding pass issuing counter". I ran to the row E and confirm. He said, "Do it immediately, otherwise he will not be able to give you the boarding pass".

Then I rushed to Mr. ** and purchased two tickets for my wife Urmils ** and Shaivya **. I paid Rs.13410 through my credit card. When I checked the itinerary receipt, it was wrongly made for next day i.e., 28 Dec. flight no AI 688 ( ticket no ** and **).

Now you can understand our situation. Mr. ** said you go immediately and take the boarding passes. I went to row no. E and met the same gentleman. By the time all four boarding passes were in his hand. I asked about the mess, then he noted down few details from my new purchased ticket receipt. I took the boarding passes and traveled to Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, I started calling on different numbers, found with different sources. I dialed one number, **, and reached Mr. **. He was trying to understand me, but unfortunately, call was disconnected. Then, I again I called the same number. One lady picked the phone. She talked rudely and said she can not help me. Time was around 12:30 pm.

Now I moved for Nasik (as planned). After reaching Nasik, I found one number in hotel (**), I called that number. The person who lifted the phone was really nice. He understood the issue and tried to cancel my new tickets. But I do not know when the money will be returned in my credit card account.

Now just think about my agony and the pain. I was having a very good opinion of Air India. I request to the concerned authority. Please go into the details and compensate the appropriate amount as early as possible.

Next day I went to City office to pay the amount and customer service in city office told me to pay $279. I was surprised and I tried to explain the complete matter what happened and what was agreed. He call another office and confirmed the price of $279. 03-Feb-2012.

Immediately I called up the customer service and explain the complete details. Initially, he tried to convince me by saying that dollar price fluctuations, mistakes made by representative and so on and he provided me fare of $254. I requested the customer representative to check the call recorded between myself and customer representative whom I have talked last night. She came on call and agreed that she quoted $230. But on that day no conclusion. Again, I called on Monday, 06-Feb-2012, explain details to new customer service person. He told me price of $279 telling me the Taxes got increased, so I have to pay the $50 dollar difference i.e between $230 - $279.

I am sick of calling and looks like I am cheated by Air India. It does not matter of $50 but why should I suffer of someone else mistake or miscommunication. I would never changed my itinerary if I've been quoted $279. Right now, I am in situation that I have to pay $279 and cannot revert back my itinerary. Please let me know what can be done over here. Thanks.

So we decided to buy a ticket and the earliest flight was an Air India flight no.101 at 1:35 am (December 15). So we checked in almost 3 hours before the flight. After couple of hours the captain announced that the aircraft was going back to Delhi because of some mechanical problem in the aircraft. So, we came back to Delhi and waited until the airline arrange us another aircraft.

Next flight they arranged for us was actually at 9:30 in the morning but by the time we checked in again it was 11am and that was a direct flight from Delhi to JFK airport New York (15 hours). My question is, if there is some problem in the aircraft who is responsible for all this? We suffered on the airport for so many hours with the two young kids who still drinks milk from the bottle. This is not fair with us at all. I am looking forward to get a justice either refund or credit.

Today Monday Dec 19, I spoke with the Air India agent at 416-776-3930/31 and she passed me over to some guy who apparently was on his way to the start of his shift and asked me to call him back, which asked for his number, he said he rather take mine down and would call me back in 5 mins, this was at 10:00 and now it is 12:15 and no callback received. I called again and it went to their VM with a recording that they open until 3 pm. They have a horrible customer service and thief staff working.

I have spoken to Heer, and all she said was she will not be able to do the rescheduling, since the server is down. When asked for any other workaround, she said she doesn't know. Now, is that a passenger's mistake that the server is not available for 2 days? This is completely ridiculous, and I wanted to complain to someone in this regard. What will happen if we try to reschedule later, and the flights are not available? Who is questionable here? They have irresponsible staff and no information of the issue they are facing. I will never ever book my flights again with Air India.

The behavior of one of the staff members was very rude. She was introduced as a staff supervisor and she was totally unwilling to help in the situation even when I told her I have email confirmation (with the assigned seat number) about the return flight. No one wanted to take responsibility of the situation and no one showed willingness to help. The airport staff started blaming their call center agents and their call center started saying that they cannot help anymore and kept telling me to talk to the duty manager.

I had to speak to the duty manager and wait until the very last moment before they assigned a seat to my father. The boarding had already begun by then and my father had to rush to the gate. The Air India service made our day really miserable before a long journey. It was a mental exploitation.

I thought the bad service ended with the assignment of the seat but in fact it did not. Air India made my dad gate-check the carry-on bag. Since it was in such a rush my father was only able to take out some valuable items out of it before checking it in at the gate. When he reached the final destination, he was not able to find the gate-checked carry-on bag that had a number of other valuable items. So Air India made the overall journey even more miserable when they lost our luggage containing the valuables. I also noticed there were other passengers who were in the same boat, which means they were given confirmation about the flight and they were told at the airport their ticket is canceled. So it clearly appeared to me as a bad business practice.

I sincerely and truly urge agencies like Better Business Bureau (BBB) to take appropriate and strict action against Air India as soon as possible so that other passengers are not treated miserably by them in future. Such situations are absolutely not acceptable with international flights when the passengers: (a) paid over $1,200 for the fare. (b) has a long journey ahead of them. I appreciate support in this situation!

I will never use it for my family again. They have bad customer service.

I booked two tickets for my sister's wedding but she got had accident in India and due to surgeries and all, we had to cancel the wedding. I shoot an email through Air India site and someone forwarded me an email stating that "your problem (email) has been sent to higher authority". And the person to whom it was forwarded to was not an Air India person at all. (Imagine working as a customer service person and not knowing the person where I should forward respective complaint or issue.) Then I shoot an email back regarding this and followed up many times but I never get a reply.

I contacted through phone and was told to "contact your agent and they will do their job".

My agent is no longer helpful for any concern to ask for higher authority and just said to cancel the ticket. (We think we should not be paying $600 to cancel the ticket; rather if that can be used to family member who is really in need.)

Basically, this process took me about 25 days. And after all these, I end up wasting my time and not getting any consideration and losing money.

It's like we don't care once you book ticket and we have your money--Air India approach.

At the time of purchase, Air India confirmed that two hours was more than sufficient time to get from one plane to the next at the Mumbai Airport. We told Air India that we had connecting flights (seven hours later) from Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia and that we were rushing to get to a big family event. At Indore, we checked in straight through to Singapore. The flight was delayed by more than two hours.

We told the manager at the Indore Airport that we have a connecting flight to Singapore, and that almost seven hours after reaching Singapore, we have a connecting flight to Jakarta, Indonesia. She said that the flights from Indore to Mumbai are always late and that once the flight reaches Mumbai (due to air traffic congestion), the flights circle the airport for a minimum of 20-30 minutes up to 1.5 hours.

Then, we showed her the ticket. She confirmed that it was a ticket with a connecting flight, not two separate tickets. She also said that this delay with the same flight connections happens all the time with people trying to fly directly from Indore to Singapore. She had said that she told Air India headquarters in Mumbai at least one month prior to stop selling such itineraries. To make a horrible story short, the flight to Mumbai was delayed.

In Mumbai, we were treated like dirt and asked to wait for seven to eight hours in an non-air-conditioned, uncomfortable area and were not provided with water or anything to eat or drink. Because the flight to Singapore was missed, we missed our connecting flight to Jakarta, Indonesia and missed the train from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, both of which were prepaid. We were forced to spend one night in Singapore (unplanned expense), one night in Jakarta (unplanned expense), buy new air tickets from Singapore to Jakarta (unplanned expense) and buy air tickets from Jakarta to Yogyakarta (unplanned expense). Also, we had to eat, spend money on taxis to and from airport, etc.--all of which were unplanned expenses.

Because of all this, we had to spend nearly $2,000 extra, and this was with us being very conscientious about not spending too much money, staying in cheap hotels and taking the cheapest flights. We have receipts for all expenses. This doesn't cover the stress or inconvenience of last minute searching for hotel rooms (it was the Good Friday holiday weekend), finding a reasonably priced flight, finding a hotel late at night in Jakarta (which is a bit unsafe), taking taxis at night, etc. It is utterly disgusting that Air India could sell a ticket like this knowing 100% and full well that there is no way we would ever make it to Singapore on that ticket.

Our luggage allowance was 46 kg per person and we had more than that. Sam, an Air India representative, was dealing with this issue. He had asked us on numerous occasions to reduce the luggage in an extremely rude way. At one point, he told my sister that the UK economy is so bad that they are sending you back to where you come from. Is this the kind of attitude your staff is taught? My sister and her friend cried and I couldn't handle this. He was teasing by passing remarks like such attitude won't help much to negotiate. I became angry at this point and was rude as well.

I am truly disappointed with the service you have provided. The delay of flight was without any apology, the inattentive service provided by your staff (plus no smiling), and even unprofessional safety guide. The waiter said to me that, “Why are you asking for the water, when just now I served juice?” and et cetera.

Hell service, rude waiter and unprofessional.

My date of travel was 26/07/2011; flight travel number was A1 346, and it was from Chennai to Singapore.

1. In the US to Delhi flight (AI102), the sound of the TV/movie in my row of seats was not functioning. Nobody in that row could watch a movie or play a song. Imagine the dilemma and the frustration when you board a long flight home, and you have to end up sitting looking at the flight ceiling. I am not sure how it went unchecked and not fixed by the ground staffs before the flight took off.

Secondly, after we were able to get hold of some staff, we were made to wait for hours without informing us if there is a clear process or agenda in place. Then we were made to wait in the immigration (3 hrs - it was 11 PM when we got out of immigration) because there were no Air India staffs with us; when they were with us they did not know what to do.

While most of the passengers got their luggage and were waiting in the bus, some of us were still looking for our luggage. When finally we found them (some registered lost baggage complains), we found out that the bus had left for the hotel without taking us. We then had to book a Toyota van, and go to the hotel on our own. By the time we reached the (wrong) hotel, Centaur, it was 3 AM.

Fourthly, we left for the airport at 4:30 AM to catch the 6:30 AM domestic flight to Kolkata. In the airport, we found out that we are not allowed to enter because we did not have any ticket/boarding pass and et cetera. The Air India counters had no clue what we were talking about; then began a round of shouting at the Air India boarding pass counter. The Air India staffs there also did not have any idea about our so called reservation. After a hell lot of cries and shouts, and pleading we got our tickets few minutes before boarding. Also, I have to mention that there were a lot of issues about allowing such large checked in luggage (from international flights).

So, what I got from the above is that, Air India does not own responsibility, and does not know how to carry them to satisfy customers. The highlight of this whole issue is that they were nowhere to be found when needed for mistakes that can only be attributed to them and to us passengers (or maybe we did make a fault by taking Air India flight). The passengers had to spend grueling hours from 4:30 PM on 14th November until 2 AM on the 15th of November before we were taken to a hotel.

I can prove to you that there is a refund for partially used ticket. Firstly, Air India reservation confirmed to me when I cancelled my ticket that I will receive a partial refund for the unused part of the ticket. That is why they referred me to ecommerce@airindia.in. Secondly, in the company website, there are clear and legal statements confirming that partially utilized tickets are refundable. Let me guide you as to how to find the statements. Please see below:

1. Go to your website http://**

2. Click on FAQs or http://**

3. Please see the very first Q&A, and I have quoted it below:

1. How do I apply for a ticket refund?

A. You can submit a ticket for refund, which is either partially utilized or totally unutilized, within one year after expiry of the validity of the ticket. The refund would however be processed subject to the fare restrictions of the ticket. If the payment has been done in cash, a check with the refund amount is sent to the address as specified by the passenger. If the payment has been made by credit/debit card, then the amount is credited back to the same credit card account. The refund cannot be processed to an alternate card account. The transfer to any other card account if required would have to be requested by you to your card issuing bank only. If the payment is made by direct debit-bank transfer, the amount would be credited back to the same bank account that it was debited from.

After the above proof, I am not sure how is my request being denied? Is there no authority in Air India, who can ensure that their valued passengers are taken care of in the most professional way, as their counterparts do in other airlines?

Thank you and regards.

They purchased their Air India tickets from an agency called Exotic Journeys in Chicago and also had purchased travel insurance. My parents flew business class with family of seven. Also, my sister who traveled with her had to purchase new tickets because of fog in Delhi and Air India could not confirm her on any date until further notice. Since we have travel insurance, all the insurance company is requesting is a letter stating that the flights were cancelled because of fog on Jan 3, 2010.

I have been trying to get to this for the last nine months through your Chicago office requesting them in person, by mail and phone calls. No cooperation is given to us from your general manager Jude ** at the Chicago office. We have a lot of money at stake and the insurance company is willing to work with us as long as we can provide them with letter stating the reason for flight cancellation. Chicago office informed us that the refund for return tickets was given to Exotic Journey. When we contacted Exotic Journey/Raju ** he stated Air India did no such thing.

We have been at this for a long time now so please help us. I am sending you all the unused ticket numbers for inquiry. Please work on this ASAP so the insurance company can close their file.

To my surprise, when I reached home and opened my bag, I was shocked to find that my valuable collection of American coins worth $500 were stolen. My medicine bottles were opened and my sealed envelopes were torn. I was totally pissed off and called the Air India customer care. But they were not readily willing to help me; instead, they were blaming me for the fault. That was totally a bizarre situation. I was confused to see the airplane people who totally cheated and blamed me for their own faults. I am not sure whom to contact as the airline itself is not helping me in this situation. So I thought that Consumer Affairs may help me in this regard.

I started pushing hard then just 30 minutes before flight time, he gave my boarding card then I came to know this guy was covering up his mistake, that actually he fed the wrong information at the first instance, and also he didn't give me a baggage tag and I have not seen him checking my baggage. So I asked him the reason, then he was telling me he would check my baggage. In the meantime, I can board the flight. So I boarded the flight and then made a complaint against Ajit ** regarding my baggage then the flight staff responded well and got my baggage loaded and a tag number was written with pen on my boarding card. The flight staff had also logged in their departure log book the irregularity of the airport staff and manager.

Whole episode lasted for 3 hours. I was getting harassed for 3 hours for their own mistakes. When I reached home in Dallas, I found out that fruit biscuits which I bought for my kids were missing from my baggage. Thank God nothing expensive was there in my baggage. I requested Air India's higher official to look into the matter. I am afraid there is some kind of scandal going on where passengers are getting harassed and the intention is to get bribe.

As of now, I still have not received my bags and even after repeated calls to 773-686-1435 (only voice-mail available) and sending emails, there has been no response from Air India.

She was unable to actually contact anyone in Delhi, either by phone or email. As of this week, she said that she had turned the problem over to her supervisor but I have not heard from anyone and the phone does not pick up anymore and the voice mail on it is full. I would like to either get the bag (preferable) or put in a claim for it. I have posted this complaint on ** and notified the Consumer Affairs Department.

I came to know about this change from one of my friend and then I started changing this ticket as I always wanted direct flight for my parents (passengers traveling). The passengers traveling on this (PNR: H6TZM) were old passengers and wheelchair was booked for them. One of the passenger was suffering the paralysis and can not walk even 100 feet at a stretch. I called Air India's Customer Service Department (1800 223 777) and they confirmed that the passengers don't have to change the flight in Delhi and the same flight will go to Mumbai.

I also called the Air India office in New York (570 Lexington Avenue 15th floor New York, NY 10022 - Phone: 212-407-1300). They confirmed the same that passengers don't have to even get down from the flight. So I did not change the flight and trusted the Air India staff. But in actuality, they had to change the flight in Delhi and the worst part was that no one provided even a wheelchair for them. They had to walk to another terminal to catch the flight from Delhi to Mumbai. My dad was suffering from paralysis and he can not walk long distances, but he had to crawl to another terminal which took almost 1 hour just to reach another terminal. He suffered medical illness after the travel. Now, I want to sue against Air India. I want to sue against Air India Staff in Delhi as well as Air India Customer Care Service Staff. I called them on USA Toll Free Number (1800 223 777) and contacted Air India office in New York.

Do I need to file a complaint in both the courts in India and USA?

Looks like Air India sells the open tickets at a lesser price and they know customer has to return, so they ask for the extra money and legally they will upgrade the economy class. This is purely a money making scam or cheating a customer! I have no idea what needs to be done over here and how to escalate this issue. I really appreciate if someone takes the action and try to prevent this type of moves done by the Airline company or any other airline. I have been asked by Air India customer representative to pay $161 for each passenger to upgrade from the available economy class and as days money will be more, so reserve as early as possible.

My mother is 60 yrs old and also she was flying first time. It means anybody can enter in India without the proper identification (good news for terrorists). We tried 5 days to get confirmation and every day we were calling 5 times a day and at least half an hour for each call. We still did not get the confirmation until the last day before the flight was scheduled. We had to pay penalty for something that we should not have to, but after all, this is Indian government. What can I say more about the Indian government? The bottom line is that I will never ever fly with Air India and I’ll make sure that I will do everything in my power to stop people flying with Air India. I mean it. We had to pay $125 penalty and my mother had to travel 3 times from Baroda to Ahmedabad just to catch the flight which is at least $300 total for fares.

A return call from AI stated that your tickets are confirmed (when I checked, they booked totally different timings). On the fifth call, tickets are available now without $30.00 extra but you cannot change it because your tickets are already confirmed. On my sixth call, this time I called the NY office. In ticketing department, the person I talked to seemed like a very seasoned fellow on how to handle an unsatisfied customer; with answers like live with it, this is what we booked and you have to take it, and he gave me a suggestion, as you have 15 hours layover at NY, why don't you call your friend or family so they can take you for site seeing (what a **, Like I stayed in the US for 5 months and didn't visit NY). So summary of above discussion, never fly Air India. "Always fly India, never fly Air India." Proud to be Indian, but not Air Indian (TATA was better owner back then).

Rarely you will find a rep who talks to you kindly and uses words like please and thank you. The tone of their voices are so rude, sometimes you think they are going to beat you up over the phone! Often you will find them being abusive, asking you questions like why did you buy open tickets? Sometimes you almost hear them saying why are you calling me? When I called Air India, they could not confirm my tickets.

When I did, I was told that all documentation had arrived; however, the lady helping me was not able to give me any more information. I was told that I would receive a call or email by someone at Air India. She also said that she did not make a final decision on the refund but that everything required on my part was complete. All I needed to do was to wait, and if I did not get my money refunded, at the very least, I would receive credit from the airline that would allow me to fly on a future date.

I want to know why after multiple emails I have never received a response. I've also called every number Air India provides, only to be hung up on, transferred to a recording, or told they do not handle my specific case. Since then when I have contacted the Air India office in New York City (the only number where I was once able to receive some kind of information), I am told to call the 1-800 customer support line. All they do is refer me back to the NYC office, saying that they cannot help me. So everywhere I turn, I get sent back to the place I just came from. What can I do? How many years must pass in order for me to get some help or true customer support?

They placed me in hotel and rebooked me to Northwest Airlines for next day. However, NorthWest Airlines charged me
$100 for baggage weight. Baggage is with in the limits of Air India. However, they did not match limits of NW Airlines.
Had Air India flight came on time, I would have flown by American Airlines whose baggage limits are same as Air India.

So I requested Air India to reimburse that $100. They refused to do so.

Also in one of the checked in baggage, some one opened hard disk and opened screws. But they did not place them
back properly. Due to which I lost some parts and portion of it is broken. I contacted Air India as soon as I arrived.

By the time I ended up with right department and got connected, it was 10 days. I filed written claim.

They rejected stating that it is more than 7 days. Typically no one answers phone from Air India even if I leave messages.

I left neumerous messages at 773 686 1435. No one responds back. 312 782 8761 is somewhat better. But lady who picks up says, she cannot do any thing, as its upto Airport manager to deal with things.

I came across Air India through a travel agent (E Bookers) who offered me a very good business class tariff which, after having investigated all the options and facilities, I decided to accept.

I boarded the plane and sat in my allotted seat, and it was then that small alarm bells started ringing. I pushed, pulled, pressed, and lifted, but there was something clearly missing; where was the personal TV screen. It was nowhere to be found. I asked one of the cabin crew where it was, or if I could get a DVD player clearly and specifically advertised in the Air India magazine. It was then that the alarm bells became clanging gongs! They didnt exist! All I could see was one 14 TV sitting high above the cabin that would have required passengers to use powerful binoculars to detect any specific programme.

I asked further and was told that the plane was rented from Korean Airways and no one, even first class, had any on-board entertainment.

This was ridiculous. I had paid almost 1000 for my business ticket with Air India and I could have received better entertainment with Virgin, British Airways, or any other carrier, for a fraction of that price sitting in Economy. There was no warning or indication that this was the case prior to the flight, and had I know, I certainly would have reverted to my original plan of flying with BA. The agent at the time of booking further reassured me that the plane was fully equipped with multi channel video facilities.

Members of staff on board were extremely helpful and sympathetic and offered headed paper, envelopes and details of the company address. They were obviously as embarrassed as I was annoyed. This situation was repeated on the return trip back to London.

I have written twice to Air India requesting 50% of the fees to be reimbursed. A total of 495.

REGARDING FLIGHT DELAY:

We were delayed from a scheduled Saturday 7:30am flight to a Monday 3:00am final escape from New Delhi. The time in between was spent being fed broken promises, sitting on the plane, sitting at gates and being carted twice in dirty busses to a dirty hotel (my room had wet mould stains growing in the corner of the room). We were never even really allowed to rest in the hotel the two times were were carted over there.

The first visit to the dirty hotel was from mid afternoon to around 11pm and no one could sleep from the lack of information and fear of missing a flight. The rest of the first night was spent in security lines, gates and sitting on an airplane. The second visit to the dirty hotel was no better.

REGARDING SAFETY:

second+ time?

AIR INDIA did not reject this plane, the pilot did!!!

This scares me. I believe this should be investigated further and it certainly begs for more maintenance scrutiny of incoming flights from AIR INDIA. I shudder to think of what damage a landing plane with faulty brakes could do on a busy airport runway.

Medicine ran out and so wasn't taken on time, 1 day of work was missed, days of no sleep left me exhaused for at least a week after returning.