[Satish Pari]

My first experience I remember was flying back in Air India from JFK to Chennai in 1987. My dad was not travelling with us and it was me, my mom and my two sisters. Air India did some goof up in the ticketing as fortunately we were upgraded to Business Class. I didn't realize the upgrade until we got the menu to choose from and porcelain plates. I vaguely remember stopping at LHR and finally arrived at Mumbai and caught another flight to Chennai.

The next trip was a three month to the US in 1989 and the carrier was Malaysian Airlines. The service on the Chennai-Kualalumpur was horrible. Frankly I wont blame the air hostesses as most of the passengers on the flight were workers working in Malaysia and they behaved pretty badly with the crew. For example one guy vomited after drinking too much and the air hostess gave him a mouthful. As we were delayed, we missed our connecting flight to LAX so we had a two day stopover with accommodation and a local sightseeing package added. Back them it was at a hotel to close to Subang International Airport. The onward journey to LAX via Narita was amazing and there was a drastic difference in the service and if I'm not wrong, there were very few Indians on board.

Fast forward to 1996 another three month holiday to the US and this time we flew Alitalia from Mumbai. It was an MD 11 from Mumbai to Rome. We were delayed for close to 2 hours as there was some technical glitch. Finally took off and caught our connecting flight from Rome to JFK which was on a 747-200. Don't really remember the service but it was ok. One the way back to Chennai, we boarded a Gulf Air A320 from Mumbai which had been leased by Jet Airways.

1999 was when I travelled to UK to pursue my higher studies. It was MAS from Chennai-KL-LHR and it was an uneventful journey. Came back after one year on the same sector and the return journey was a one way ticket to LHR on Gulf Air. Pathetic service and I experienced racial profiling for the first time - pretty severe. This flight was from Muscat-Doha-LHR. At Doha airport some Arab guy came to check the passport and a white lady sitting next to me wasn't even questioned. I remember being woken from deep sleep in a very rude voice "Show me your passport". I was shell shocked and even the white lady felt bad for me. My return to India was on Lufthansa, LHR-FRA-BOM-MAA.

My latest international journey was for a 15 day holiday in Europe in 2017. Both legs from MAA-FRA were on Lufthansa's A340 and we had booked Premium Economy and the service was very good.

On a side note, my dad who is a research professor as flown on so may airlines that I have lost count. But he has been restricting his travel for the past 4-5 years. Even though he flew economy only, he still has a Sliver Senator card with Star Alliance. And his preferred airline to Europe or the Americas was always Lufthansa and for far east, it was Singapore Airlines. He has flown on El-Al, Iran Air, Uzbek Air, ANA, JAL, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, Delta, United, AA, Air France, Varig, AI, IA, Egypt Air. The reason I remember these is because after every trip, he used to bring home the inflight magazines and I loved collecting them.

[Amrik Singh]

While we are discussing International and Domestic Airlines, an exceptional flight taken by me was aboard Indian Air Force AN32 somewhere in 1987. I was flown from Delhi to an Air Force location near Bhubhaneshwar and returned two weeks later.

Take off - All Passengers move to the Cargo hold and stand against firmly fixed and netted Cargo. Once Airborne, move to the pressurised Cabin and lock the Cargo hold.
Seating - Steel bench-type seats along the two sides of the Plane. Someone sits on Steel W/C, which has a hanging curtain (missing). Some passengers were sitting behind the elevated seats of Pilots. Not much heating.

Landing - Once descended considerably, open the Cargo door, move over there and stand behind the Cargo, with back to it. After the aircraft has landed and come to a standstill, Cargo Ramp is opened. Jump down, as it may take a long time for the Ramp to be lowered fully for Cargo removal.

Incomparable with luxurious commercial flights, but a once-in-a-lifetime experience for civilians.

[shankar.balan]

For anyone still hesitating, do consider Indigo Airlines to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Colombo and other nearby destinations. The prices are reasonable, the aircraft are always clean, on-time and if one pays just a little extra and books the extra-leg-room seats along with Fast-Forward Luggage and Quick-Board services, and pre-books a simple meal like their heat-and-eat Upma or similar, one is guaranteed a very comfortable journey indeed. Indigo actually offers a standard 30kg allowance for checked in luggage plus 7 kgs in the cabin and one will be hard pressed to reach such a weight. Another nice thing is their sports equipment allowance where one can carry one’s golf bag or tennis kit or whatever by paying a nominal fee. Thing to remember is that travel is best enjoyed when travelling light. The other thing is that Indigo in Dubai and Singapore, Land in Terminal 1 or 2. These are much less crowded as per what I observed, compared to the big Terminal 3-4 etc where all the big National Airlines land, such as Emirates in Dubai and Singapore Airlines in Singapore.

Basis my experiences in 2022 on Indigo, on the International travel side, I plan to only use them for any travel to all these nearby international destinations wherever they operate a service. They are well worth it.

One more thing. I find the ‘Lounges’ quite over-rated and very over-crowded. More or less anyone and their uncle these days can easily access these lounges free basis the various credit cards and airline status and priority pass etc. So as a piece of reverse psychology, I actually find that if one goes to a small corner in the airport, finds a seat and gets a cup of tea or coffee from the rank of shops, it is a more peaceful experience than the typical bun-fight that ensues in the lounges, because of over-crowding. It definitely helps to travel light, that’s for sure, instead of lugging multiple bags all over the place.

Of course if planning long haul travel to the Americas, EU, ANZ and all, I would like to try and use Air India and Vistara and all. But then, they will first need to start operating from Bangalore direct.

Wishing Everyone here safe happy healthy enjoyable Travels in 2023 and beyond!

Originally Posted by Amrik Singh

Take off - All Passengers move to the Cargo hold and stand against firmly fixed and netted Cargo. Once Airborne, move to the pressurised Cabin and lock the Cargo hold.
Seating - Steel bench type seats along the two sides of the Plane. Someone sits on Steel W/C which has a hanging curtain (missing). Some passengers sitting behind the elevated seats of Pilots. Not much of heating.
Incomparable with luxurious commercial flights, but a once in a lifetime experience for civilians.

Thats a great anecdote.
Here in a lighter vein is a depiction from Tintin, of the old way of travel in those old war surplus DC Dakota Aircraft.

[fhdowntheline]

On a lighter note, we can have a whole new thread on the various modes of transport in the Tintin series.
Apropos the various airlines during journeys abroad I have used, I would list the following prominently: Air India, Jet Airways, Lufthansa, United , Delta, American, Turkish, Air France, few other forgettables like Kuwait Airways etc. Some other interesting ones like TWA, a pioneering airline relegated to the annals of history. But my first " international " trip was onboard Royal Nepal Airlines B727-200 from DEL to KTM, back in 1983 . I still remember the excellent service, the freshness of the omlette, the soft croissant with orange marmalade ,and the heavenly views of the Himalayas from 36000 feet. As they say, first experiences are special. The second experience of the same airline is equally memorable for the hair raising incident of inflight engine failure, the ariplane being a DHC-6 Twin Otter. But thats a different story altogether!

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by Imran.Syed

To complement the new airport and to bring in more tourist dollars, a new airline is also being established but this isn't officially confirmed yet.

This is very much on. The airline is called Riyadh International Airlines, or RIA. Pilots and cabin crew from EK and EY are being 'invited' to interview. The standard KSA playbook applies - show up with your UAE payslip and get 2-4x more for the jump.

[sup?]

Having just returned from a vacation to Greece today, this is a topic of great interest to me just now. I travelled by Gulf Air (Economy) this time and the experience was mostly positive. The best thing that happened was that our onward journey to Athens had a 9.5 hour break at Bahrain and they have a policy of arranging hotel, meals and transport for those passengers with a transit time of more than 9 hours. The airline takes care of everything including the transit visa stamping. A good night's sleep in transit, followed by a hearty breakfast and a bus ride through the amazing infra of an oil rich nation was a good beginning to our trip. A bulk of the passengers were Bangladeshi and Pakistani migrants to Greece (There are a surprising number of them in Greece) travelling to Athens. They are all illiterate and their behaviour borders on the uncouth. One passenger at the Athens airport spent 2 minutes staring at the rest room signs and couldn't figure out which was male and which was female and I was shocked when he went into the female restroom. The GA crew were adept at dealing with behaviour like this without being rude. The Bahrain airport security and information staff are barely conversant in English and you could see the way the racism in their treatment of South Asian and East Asian passengers vs European passengers. I was pretty shocked that they would have customer facing reps who could barely speak anything except Arabic. The very average Asian vegetarian food I ordered and the horrible earplugs which dissuaded me from the already uninspiring content were the only negatives.

I have travelled with Emirates, Qatar, BA, KLM, Delta etc mainly to Europe and the US (All economy). They have all been average to good. We have been at the receiving end of the occasional racist behaviour but it has generally been limited to the middle east airport staff during transit. None of the airlines stand out for Economy class really. Gulf Air providing the transit hotel was the only time we felt like we got more than what we paid for.

[the_joker]

I've not flown a lot, and I've only flown economy, so a small contribution to this thread:

International airlines

1. Emirates: I've had very good experience with Emirates. Good food, good crew, decently comfortable planes.
2. Etihad: I've had decent experience with Etihad as well. The best part was that US CBP checks happen in Abu Dhabi, so the next, longer leg is easier. No need to stand in queue after a 16 hr flight. Also, because of the short transit time, I was allowed to jump the queue in Abu Dhabi. Etihad was very strict on the baggage weight limit check. The crew were slightly short tempered on the Abu Dhabi - Bangalore leg. Understandable seeing how the passengers behaved. The gate agent wanted me to check my carry-on. I absolutely refused because it had my laptop, camera etc. He told me that I may be forced to do so, but it was fine in the end.
3. Malaysian airlines: I have good experience with them also. Emirates and Etihad were better, but no complaints with Malaysian. On the return trip, we flew Penang - Kuala Lumpur - Bangalore. We were given 3 meals in a 8 hr window. I felt stuffed after the first two, and refused the 3rd.
4. Air Asia: Nothing to complain about, but nothing that stands out either. I think they're a good low cost carrier.
5. Dragon Air: This one no longer exists. I flew to Shanghai on it, and was the only non-chinese person on the Hong-Kong - Shanghai leg. The flight was crowded, and I was given my meal first because I ordered Veg. The meals served later had some kind of seafood, and smelled very bad. I had very difficult time keeping my meal in for the rest of the flight. So, I kept my stomach empty, and didn't have any meals on the return leg.

Foreign domestic flights:

1. Alaskan Air: They felt like Indigo of US airlines, but better. One memorable trip was from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon. Apparently, our flight was given a very short takeoff window, so the pilots didn't stop anywhere after pushback from gate till takeoff. Also, this was the only airline that had issues with my documents. I was never able to do web checkin, always had to go to the checkin counter for the agent to check something. This is the only airlines where I didn't have leg space issues. All others have very less leg space for me, and I have to jam my legs in uncomfortable posture.
2. Bassaka Air: We took this from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. The flight was very cheap ($25) and included check-in bags as well. We were surprised when they gave us some snacks and beverages too on the 1 hr flight. The plane seemed old, but no complaints here.

Indian domestic airlines

1. Indigo: I like Indigo. No nonsense flights which are almost always on time.
2. Spicejet: I like Spicejet too, the only complaint that I have is that a significant number of flights that I've taken on spicejet have had delays.

[crazydevil]

Hundreds of positive experiences and improvements are wiped away in a stroke by one such shocking incident, that too for a business class flyer. Shows that the Tatas have their hands full and then some in order to restore some amount of respect to AI.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/96719997.cms

[Akshay1234]

Having flown a little bit, although much less than many of the guys here. A couple anecdotes come to mind -

When I was pretty young, I remember transiting through Heathrow on the way to the US. Those days the planes had the projectors with the RGB lenses and a common screen, to give one an idea of how long ago this is. Till then I had assumed traveling was quite a chore. Somehow, on one leg we were upgraded to world traveller plus (on BA) which had more space, more recline, and pop up foot rests. That kind of spoilt me, and opened my eyes to the fact that there can be much more luxury while travelling in an airplane.

Another anecdote which comes to mind, and this is the only time I've seen something like this happen. We were flying from ATL-IAD in the United states, on Delta. And I had a relative working for Delta at the time. We were super late, and were running through the big Atlanta terminal, taking the train to our set of gates, etc. The said relative accompanied us inside till the gate because he worked for the airline, and when we reached even though we were just about in time, the boarding was closed. Now there were a bunch of passengers standing by the gate and complaining that they had closed boarding early, and when I looked out the gate windows I could see the aerobridge was moved away from the plane, and the doors were closed. Now I remember our relative making a call to Delta HQ (which is just outside ATL airport), and 5 mins later I see the aerobridge being extended back to plane and all of us being invited to board.

Many years later, another fond memory I look back to was the flying BOM-ATL in Delta 777-200LRs (which have now been leased by Air India). The flight was one of the longest in the world taking about 17 hours onwards, and a little less on the return. Flew this a bunch of times before it stopped and it was quite the experience, managing to get 9 hours of good sleep in an airplane seat/bed and landing directly in the US. I also flew Delta 747s across the pacific from LA to NRT a couple times, and the upper deck gave one an almost private jet like experience with only about 15 seats on it. Very fond memories of the queen of the skies!

Another one is of a couple of years ago, I had redeemed some miles for a business ticket on Etihad from Frankfurt to Mumbai. Due to a credit card I had just got, I was given complimentary Gold membership to Etihad. Now I was in the lounge and I thought Id try my luck, so I went to the gate and shamelessly asked the gate agent if I could get an upgrade. He hesistated for a second, had a look at my boarding pass, and printed a fresh one for first class. That trip was truly VFM for me, and one of the few times I've managed to fly first.

On a different note, Oman Air was an airline I had a very pleasant experience on recently while flying to Europe. Would certainly recommend to anyone looking for a VFM trip. I flew business and found it comparable to most of the other Middle Eastern airlines in terms of hard product, service and food, at a much better price. I was surprised!

[SR-71]

Every time we think AirIndia has hit rock bottom; it manages to surprise us!
Snippets from an article in today's TOI. You can read the entire article here.

In a shocking incident, an inebriated male passenger exposed himself and urinated on a female passenger, a senior citizen in her seventies, seated in a business class aisle seat on board an Air India flight from New York to Delhi recently. The woman alerted the cabin crew, but they did not apprehend the unruly passenger, who walked off scot-free after the flight landed in Delhi.

It was only after the woman sent a letter to N Chandrasekaran, chairman, that Air India initiated an investigation, said a source.

She was given the narrow crew seat, where she sat for an hour and was then told to return to her seat. “Although the staff had put sheets on top, the area was still reeking of urine,” she said. Two hours later, she was given another crew seat, where she sat for the remainder of the flight. She learnt later from a fellow passenger that several seats in first class were vacant.

While AI itself cannot be blamed for this nasty behavior by the passenger, their lackadaisical response is no better than the dastardly act.

[Amrik Singh]

Originally Posted by SR-71

Every time we think AirIndia has hit rock bottom; it manages to surprise us!
Snippets from an article in today's TOI

Only thing is that though 'Quote'
TIMES OF INDIA: The incident occurred on November 26 on board Air India flight AI-102, which departed New York-JFK airport around 1pm, local time.
The incident took place on 26th November and the issue surfaced more than a month later ? Why she remained silent for over a month ? What were other passengers doing all this time ? Nowadays everyone looks for anything unusual to capture on phone, and be the first one to post it on social media, why NOBODY did this ?
Something smells rat here ! It could be Urine !

[SuperGirl_Dad]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

Jet Airways: I have had the best experience with Jet. Was flying regularly from Mumbai to London, Hong Kong, Shanghai & Singapore between 2005 - 2008. Excellent service, amazing food and great aircrafts. I was on their inaugural flight of their 777 from Mumbai to London

One of the most underrated service provider was Jet airways.

2011 - Chennai to JFK via Brussels round trip - Got it for $980 (Miss those days when airlines fight to give you a ticket less than a $1000). Emirates and Lufthansa were the preferred carriers for this route. I got the ticket for <$1000 but JET offered to upgrade me to Business for a mere $500 on one way (MAA to JFK). Happily took it and worth every penny. Had one of the most delicious biryani onboard. Nice flight and amazing crew .

2016 - Jet again offered to upgrade me to business class on flight from Doha to Mumbai for an additional 70$.

Miss Jet Airways for the competition they provided. Feel customers are at mercy of airlines these days.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by SR-71

Every time we think AirIndia has hit rock bottom; it manages to surprise us!
...
While AI itself cannot be blamed for this nasty behavior by the passenger, their lackadaisical response is no better than the dastardly act.

This is a horrible incident. Air India is 100% at blame at not handling it post the behavior/incident. The handling of the situation for the rest of the flight is appalling! We see several incidents & videos of US (domestic) airlines of passengers acting unruly and sorts; all of them end in the passenger(s) being walked out of the flight and banned for life, some even being arrested and taken away. AI should have done that here for starters.

Also something I have noticed on AI international flights is people (especially those from the sub-continent) get drunk like crazy. I haven't seen that levels of drunkenness on other airlines - I felt it's as if on AI flights, they get the confidence to ask for repeat refills. I guess the situation hasn't changed post the ownership shift.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Also something I have noticed on AI international flights is people (especially those from the sub-continent) get drunk like crazy. I haven't seen that levels of drunkenness on other airlines - I felt it's as if on AI flights, they get the confidence to ask for repeat refills. I guess the situation hasn't changed post the ownership shift.

But in this case we do not know here the nationality of the offender. Perhaps, he was a US citizen ?

[crazybiker46]

As I'm based in Dubai, on international routes I have flown only with UAE based international airlines (Emirates & Ethihad). Travel to India, I have flown with Air India, FlyDubai, Air Arabia, Air India Express, Indigo.

Majority of my travel was recently from 2017 onwards, post covid I haven't done any international trips

Travel to India

Air Arabia - Good service and on time. Air Arabia has a common screen in between few rows which used to show "laugh for gags" that killed time for me in 3 hour flight. Being budget airline, never ordered food

Indigo -On time, but due to DXB-TRV flight timing at middle of day, flew only 1-2 times. Nothing else to mention

FlyDubai - used only once, leg room was good.

Air India express - Looked at cheapest option once and booked AIEx. Was on-time. I found bed bugs on seat pocket. I was scared that I might carry bed bugs home. Seats reminded me of KSRTC buses. They served Samosa and refreshments on the flight, was never expecting as it is considered as a budget airline.

Air India - Booked business class for Dubai to Kochi (B787 Dreamliner) after hearing good reviews about business class from many. Flight was delayed by 3 hours. Business class seat had a broken reading lamp and seat controls were not working. Food was good. What surprised me, they used a piece of paper with business class seating drawn using pencil to take orders. This was just before Tata takeover.

Emirates - Most enjoyable of the lot, good food, entertainment and lay flat beds in Business class.

Apart from this, have flown with JetStar on domestic flights in NewZealand (Wellington - Queenstown, Christchurch - Auckland) - Classic budget airline flights, CHC-AKL flight was full and chaotic, while Wellington - Queenstown was relatively quite and had full row of 3 seats to sleep comfortably


International trips

Ethihad

Flew from Tokyo to Abudhabi on B787 Dreamliner. Flight was overbooked, I was given option to take next day's flight with possible upgrade. Couldn't take it as I had to be at work next day.
It was a good flight. Decent legroom, good food and cabin atmosphere was good. I have read somewhere B787 cabin pressure is equivalent of lower altitudes compared to other similar aircrafts (B777, A350). I was feeling very less tired because of that.

Emirates

Flew economy to NewCastle, Istanbul & Doha - Good food and service . On NewCastle flight (7 hours), was fighting for elbow space as I got a seat in middle row (4 seat config). Doha flight though its a 40 minutes duration flight, I spent 3 hours inside aircraft due to heavy rains impacting takeoffs at DXB airport.

B777 business class to Dubai - Seychelles. Had booked economy, was upgraded to business class and it was my first ever business class trip. As a first time experience, you get to know what being pampered means.

Flew B777 business from Auckland(return with transit at Bali) to Dubai. The 2 hour transit at Bali was a relief to otherwise 19 hour flight journey.

Flew A380 business class from Dubai to Prague, Osaka, Glasgow & Auckland.

Enjoyed Prague flight as it was my first A380 business class flight. It was a daytime flight, spent lot of time at A380 lounge. Business class seats gives you proper privacy. Strangely, I have never flown economy with A380 so far.

DXB - Auckland flight was one of my longest flights (16 hours). I was excited in the beginning but it got boring when I figured out after food, a good sleep and 2 movies, there was still 6 hours to go . On top of it, my eyes became very dry and had to consult a doctor after reaching Auckland.


I would rate A380 Business class above B777 business class thanks to on-board lounge and bigger seats/privacy it provides. For budget airlines on Indian sector, my preferred flights in order of Air Arabia, FlyDubai, Indigo,Air India & AIEx.