Air India Reviews 

@airindia my parents flew with you at the beginning of the year - you cancelled their flight, you put them on a later flight but downgraded their seating class, left them at Delhi airport for 11 hours without any assistance (my father is disabled and both have limited mobility), with no hotel, no sustenance and no assistance. You have offered no refund (even though you are legally required to give a refund in such a situation) no compensation, and just a useless voucher which they cannot use (your booking system sucks by the way) and in a currency they cannot use with full knowledge of their correct currency (well done to the geniuses in your customer support team).

My parents have been battling with your useless customer support team for months, they have even attended you London “office” (which is someone’s council flat in Hounslow for anyone looking for India’s national airline’s office in one of their largest hubs in the world). This whole situation and your company is a national disgrace and I will continue to post this across all your social media, escalate this to your corporate heads as well as all relevant civil aviation authorities - until you rightfully refund and compensate my parents for the harrowing ordeal you have put them through and continue to put them through.

Worst airline of all time

My flight booking from London to Jaipur via Delhi originally was changed from a journey time of 14 hours with 1 stop to 23 hours with 2 stops - ruining my travel plans. I was not given an option for a full refund, losing £100 in the process and with no workable alternative options to choose from. Disgusting level of customer service

Customer service staff in Delhi is abhorrent. Luggage was delayed by 48 hours, staff has zero motivation to help customers - in fact they think they own the flight and I’m hitching a ride.

I called them from abroad to help my parents but they speak as if they are speaking to a neighbour they hate, in languages one cannot fathom.

The Tata’s would be squirming.

I paid nearly 550 USD one way ticket and had travelled non stop flight to Delhi from London. Neither screen, not usb port work of our entire row.

Infact there was a medical emergency, we were able to revive a hemoptysis patient and even save airline from emergency landing. Of course, fill in so many medical forms, instruct the paramedics later.

Leave alone refund, not even a thank you card was given.

Subject: Formal Complaint – Discriminatory Treatment at Mumbai Airport

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to make a formal complaint about the treatment my son and I received at Mumbai Airport during our transit from Colombo to London on 29 August 2026/early 30 August 2026.

We travelled on Air India flight AI129, scheduled to depart Mumbai at approximately 4:30 a.m., with a transit time of about two and a half hours. Our documents and onward boarding passes had already been checked and issued in Colombo. Nevertheless, we were subjected to repeated checks in Mumbai, causing unnecessary stress and reducing our transit time.

I am particularly concerned that, while we were queuing, I heard a staff member say in Hindi:

“Keep both Sri Lankan passports down and take all British passports.”

As I speak Hindi, I understood the comment clearly. This appeared discriminatory, and I request a formal investigation, including a review of CCTV, staff rosters and transfer-desk records.

The staff member refused to identify himself, and his colleagues claimed not to know his name. Staff also appeared not to be wearing visible identification badges.

Although we had substantial time before departure and were Priority Pass holders, we were told we could not use the lounge and would be taken directly to the flight. We were then escorted to Gate 8, where another screening took place. Boarding had not started when we arrived, depriving us of the opportunity to use the lounge or airport facilities.

We also discovered that our Colombo–Mumbai boarding passes and share-code documentation had been retained.

Please investigate and explain:

Why our documents were checked repeatedly.

Why Sri Lankan passports appeared to be singled out.

Whether British passengers received the same treatment.

Why we were denied lounge access and escorted to the gate early.

Why our documents were retained.

Why the staff member refused to identify himself.

Who was responsible for the transfer desk and screening.

I fully respect legitimate security procedures. My complaint concerns their apparent discriminatory and unprofessional application, the repeated checks, refusal to identify staff, denial of lounge access, unnecessary escort and retention of our documents.

Please conduct a full and impartial investigation and provide a substantive written response addressing these points. I also request confirmation of the personnel involved, where possible, and the outcome of the investigation.

This incident was distressing and humiliating for both me and my son. I will retain all relevant travel documents and evidence.

Yours faithfully,

Shereen Junaid

I flew with my husband, who had recently undergone open-heart surgery, on Air India because they were the only airline offering a direct flight from Delhi to Bali.

Given his condition, we paid extra for Premium Economy specifically so he could have more legroom and a reclining seat. We also completed the required medical assistance form and requested a special meal for him. Unfortunately, the actual experience fell far short of what we expected.

His Premium Economy seat was broken and could not recline. When we raised this with the cabin crew, the solution offered was to move him to Economy. This was particularly concerning because moving a recovering heart-surgery patient to a lower-class seat with less space and no additional recline was clearly a downgrade that could negatively affect his condition.

My husband had a vein graft taken from his leg during surgery, so having sufficient space to change position and keep his leg comfortable was important. Being confined to the more restrictive seat resulted in significant swelling in his leg during the flight.

What was even more disappointing was the complete lack of effort to find a reasonable solution. They could have asked another Premium Economy passenger whether they would voluntarily exchange seats, considered upgrading him to Business Class, or offered appropriate compensation such as miles. Instead, the only solution they offered was amenities and an extra pillow. At that point, I honestly had to laugh. A pillow was not going to fix a broken seat or address the needs of a passenger recovering from major heart surgery.

He only managed to move to another Premium Economy seat because another passenger voluntarily offered her own seat. In other words, the solution did not come from the airline or the cabin crew but came from the kindness and initiative of a fellow passenger.

When I told the senior crew member how unacceptable the situation was, the response was essentially, “Yes, it is, but the flight was full and the passenger offered her seat.” There was no real acknowledgement that Air India itself had failed to provide the Premium Economy seat we had paid for, nor any indication that the crew had made a genuine effort to find a better solution. The fact that another passenger solved the problem does not remove the airline's responsibility for the original failure.

Even after moving seats, the replacement seat had not been properly cleaned. The passenger who gave up her seat actually asked me to clean it. The crew did not even offer to take care of this until I specifically asked the crew member to clean the seat.

The special meal we had requested was also incorrect. When we asked for an alternative meal or some snacks so he could take his medication, the response was extremely slow and required consultation with a senior crew member. Most concerningly, we were eventually refused a simple snack with the explanation: “We have served you food and we have a full flight to feed.”

After more than 20 years of frequent travel with many different airlines, this was honestly the first time I have experienced a flight attendant refusing such a basic request from a passenger with a documented medical need and citing limited food availability on board as the reason.

I understand that a full flight creates operational challenges. But when a passenger has declared a serious medical condition, completed the required medical assistance process, and paid extra for a more suitable seat, I would expect the airline and its crew to make a genuine effort to find a safe and reasonable solution.

What disappointed me most was not the broken seat itself. Things can go wrong. It was the lack of empathy, initiative, and willingness to actually solve the problem. Offering an extra pillow to a recovering heart-surgery patient as the only solution was, frankly, laughable.

Honestly, the way the senior crew member spoke to me and my husband, including her choice of words and tone, made us feel as though we were asking for special treatment, when we were simply exercising our rights as paying customers and asking the airline to provide the service we had paid for and the assistance we had properly requested.

I contacted air India service through email to postpone my flights, they were so unsupportive and not helpful at all. Absolutely useless

The most pathetic experience I have had in the last 15 years of travelling frequently the staff at the check in counter behave like they are doing us a favour and as if they doing the job for free not even 1% of customer
Care experience no etiquette how to speak and how to treat customer who are the reasons why they have jobs … and then my colleague was called for
Some issue with his baggage was asked to wait for an hour and then they did
Not even give him any information about what’s wrong and said the baggage will come later he basically got treated like he was carrying freaking drugs

My company is going to stop using air India as preferred flight and will use a different vendor here on

The most messed up people work for air india

We travelled by Air India from London to Delhi the in-flight service was excellent. The crew Hardeep kaur, jyotsna Sachdeva, Priyanka sharma, Vivek Thapa were attentive and helpful. The overall experience was really good
Thanks!

Horrible flight. They broke my brand new bag even though it had fragile stickers all over it. And they are refusing compensation. The flight was so uncomfortable and horrible.

Have been emailing staff multiple times to chase my refund for the broken bag, no reply. horrible customer service.

They agreed to compensate me for my bag. And then stopped replying and haven’t compensated. Scam.

Air India’s "online chat" bumped me onto a later flight then i was requested and they never explained to me detail of the flight I didn’t want, they sent a link containing zero confirmation on what I was buying then issued a wrong ticket. Air India after 5+ attempts wont share the "chat" and refuse to help.
Beware of Air India scamming you and not stepping up what so ever, I would not fly with this airline again unless forced to.
Looking at legal options currently

My experience with the Air India flight was extremely disappointing. The flight experience was very poor, and the staff were not helpful at all. Their behaviour and communication were also very unprofessional.

Overall, the experience was extremely frustrating, and I would not recommend Air India to anyone based on this experience. In the future, we would strongly suggest that passengers consider other airlines instead of Air India.

I hope you will take this feedback seriously and work on improving both the service and staff behaviour.

Will never ever fly in this airlines had a series of terrible experiences don’t want to explain unnecessarily as I could imagine how everyone else would think about the airlines

Wrost flight ever had. No ac , delayed service , uncertain situations in flight etc . Not capable to run a airline company.

The staff is extremely uncoperstive ill infomred the customer serivice doesnt not exist at all. If somethin goes wrong dont expcet anything from this airline . worst is the web site you will go in cirle
I lost my glasses while boarding the plane which fellow passgnet (who provided his own detilas for future refe) handed to the ground staff and inform the crew member , I have contacted staff at the terminal gave my details but no one contacted they dont have any loss or find department neither office. knowing my glasses handed over to the staff I am still waiting

I have recently travelled in Business Class from Delhi to Melbourne on AI 308 on the 10th of August,2026. I do understand that Air India is working very hard to improve their standards and transform the airline to a 'world class airline'. Service on board was all very good, the Maharaja Lounge was also very good, though they still have to go a long way to be like Singapore Airlines Lounges. The let downs were the following.
1. We were told that Air India has deployed the new 777-300ER on this sector and we were expecting a 1-2-1 layout. Believing that, my wife and I booked two middle seats. However upon boarding we found that these were the old planes that have 2-3-2 layout. No privacy as a result; seats are narrower, and are not fully flat. They angle towards the feet which makes sleeping impossible on a 12hr 40 mts flight.We live in Australia and travel to India often, always on Singapore Airlines. This was our first and last attempt to use Air India; never again.
2. It is all hunky-dori to get new planes, new crew uniforms, new menus and younger flight crew, supposedly trained by SQ, but Air India must understand that so called 'good service' starts on the ground. The check in lady at the Business Class counter was rude,brusque and gave us a 'I couldn't care attitude'. No hello,no good morning, no thank you. She just functioned mechanically as if she was doing us a favour.Bad taste at the very start of the experience. If Air India cannot achieve good,polite and smiling service right from check-in to arrival then all those billions of dollars spent are of no use. There was no real reason for us to try Air India instead of our usual Singapore Airlines, and there will be no use anymore. We will remain with SQ and Air India has no hopes of switching us over to them.

We had booked Air India Business Class for my aged parents where their tickets specifically mentioned that they needed assistance. The service from India to Heathrow was good but the complete reverse was true for the journey from Heathrow to India. There was no luggage lifting assistance provided at the check-in for passengers requiring assistance (!!) and the worst was there was no wheel chair provided from the check-in services to the lounge. We were directed to Heathrow assistance where the wait for a wheel chair was so long that our parents had to walk to the lounge which they had already paid for. Even after paying so much for Business class with assistance requested, it should have been the responsibility of Air India to ensure that assistance was provided right from check-in. The whole idea of booking Business class was for my parents to experience a smooth journey. Air India made the experience very poor for us and my parents, with one of them developing a swollen leg aggravated after the journey. Given that, a compensation needs to be paid.

Very disappointing experience with Air India

I had a connecting flight through Delhi, where we were originally supposed to wait for around one hour. Instead, we ended up waiting for approximately six hours.

What made the situation worse was the response from the staff. There was very little useful information or support regarding the delay. The only compensation offered was a free dinner, which was presented to us almost as if that should solve the problem.

When I went to get the meal, I was told there were only two food options available. Both were Indian dishes and unfortunately neither suited my taste, so I couldn’t really eat the meal that was offered as compensation for a six-hour delay. For an international airline carrying passengers from many different countries, I would expect at least one simple, neutral meal option.

The flight itself was also uncomfortable for me. The food served onboard was heavily spiced, and the strong smell throughout the cabin made the journey unpleasant. I completely understand that many passengers may enjoy this cuisine, but on an international flight it would be much better to provide more variety for passengers with different preferences.

A one-hour connection turning into a six-hour wait, poor communication, extremely limited meal choices and an uncomfortable flight made this one of the worst airline experiences I’ve had.

Unfortunately, after this experience, I would not choose Air India again.

Easy check-in process, very nice that they are sending updates and boarding passes via WhatsApp and email. Fast baggage drop-off and friendly staff. Good selection of entertainment onboard and the food was decent. I wouldn't hesitate to fly with Air India again