Air India Reviews 

I’m Appalling airline run by imbeciles and useless and rude staff. A failure of their aircraft has led to my daughter and her friends being stuck in Delhi due to an airline failure and a faulty plane that had to make and emergency landing. They were told by customer service staff where they sleep tonight is not her business that is up to them. What an appalling airline, appalling and staff, of course what else would you expect from such a poor grade airline.

DO NOT TRAVEL

To Air India Management,

​I am writing to expose the absolute nightmare my 70-year-old parents experienced while traveling to the UK on May 4th. This was, without a doubt, the worst airline experience of our lives, caused entirely by the staggering ignorance of your staff.

​My parents arrived at the airport fully prepared, carrying their UK eVisa and share code, which we had printed the day before their flight. The official printed document clearly stated that the share code was valid until August 2nd.

​Instead of assisting them, your staff made an absurd and entirely made-up demand: they insisted the share code had to be printed on the exact day of travel rather than the day before. There is absolutely no such rule. Common sense should tell anyone that a government document valid until August 2nd does not magically expire overnight.

​Because of your team's inability to read a simple date, I had to sort out this mess at 3:00 AM. Your staff's sheer incompetence completely ruined my sleep and forced me to intervene in the middle of the night just to protect my parents from your own employees.

​When we escalated this to the manager, hoping for some basic logic, the manager was highly unsupportive and completely refused to listen, even when I pointed out the official August 2nd validity date printed right in front of them.

​The impact of your team's failures was severe:
​Deep Distress for Senior Citizens: My elderly parents, who rely on a smooth process, were left confused, helpless, and completely stressed out.

​Lasting Fear: Your staff's ridiculous demands terrified them. They spent the entire rest of their journey living in fear, anxious that they would face similar harassment at every other checkpoint.

​Unnecessary Disruption: Your made-up rules forced me out of bed at 3 AM to do the job your staff and management failed to do.
​It is shameful that an international airline employs staff and managers with such a lack of basic reading skills, common sense, and empathy for senior citizens.

​I will never book another flight with Air India again. You are the worst airline with the most unhelpful staff I have ever encountered, and I will be making sure everyone I know hears about how you treat your elderly passengers.

I am a Gold Frequent Flyer (formerly Platinum) and a consistent Business Class traveler with Air India. My recent experience flying from Mumbai to Melbourne (AI311) has been a masterclass in how to alienate loyal customers.

Upon arrival in Melbourne on April 17, I discovered my brand-new 30-inch spinner suitcase was destroyed (two wheels completely missing) and two other new bags sustained severe structural gouges. I have timestamped "before" photos from Mumbai proving they were in factory-new condition at check-in.

Despite my status and the clear evidence provided (Case ID: 39680739), Air India’s response has been insulting. They offered a mere INR 2,000 ($36 AUD) e-voucher as compensation. A quality replacement for a 30-inch bag in Australia costs upwards of $400 AUD. Their offer doesn't even cover 5% of the total $700 damage.

To make matters worse, their regional email addresses bounce back, their Australian phone lines are "invalid," and they are now threatening to close my case while I am still trying to reach a human who understands the Montreal Convention.

As a Master Mariner and retired businessman, I value integrity and professional service. Air India has shown neither. I am now escalating this to the Australian Aviation Consumer Ombudsperson and Consumer Affairs Victoria.

Air India, do better. Loyal Business Class passengers deserve more than a scripted brush-off.

I flew with Air India from San Francisco to Delhi on April 18, 2026, and returned from Delhi to San Francisco on April 26, 2026. This was, without exaggeration, one of the most frustrating and physically exhausting travel experiences I’ve had.

On my outbound journey (SFO → DEL), I was informed **less than 24 hours before departure** that my already long 17-hour flight would be extended to **22.5 hours**. No meaningful explanation, no apology that matched the scale of disruption, and certainly no effort to mitigate the impact on passengers.

The return journey was even worse. While heading to the airport in Delhi, I was notified of a **1-hour delay**. Once at the airport, that delay kept creeping up—another 2 hours, then a couple more. What was originally scheduled as a **2:55 AM departure didn’t leave until 8:00 AM**. Instead of transparent communication, passengers were strung along with incremental updates that made it impossible to plan or even rest properly.

As a result, I spent the entire night at the airport trying to sleep on uncomfortable seating, which led to significant back pain and a completely exhausting experience before an ultra-long-haul flight. There was no meaningful assistance, no proper accommodation offered, and no sense that the airline took responsibility for the situation.

Delays can happen—but the way they are handled matters. In this case, the lack of clear communication, last-minute schedule changes, and complete disregard for passenger comfort made the experience unacceptable.

I will be actively avoiding Air India in the future and strongly recommend others think twice before booking, especially for long-haul international travel where reliability and communication are critical.

its just vile every part of the service from sales to operations and staff attitudes are appalling - plane is dirty and extremly unhygienic - will never go to india as a result.

I think everyone needs to realise that an ongoing war is in the middle east and we need the middle east to get to europe so air india helped us a lot I was going from rome to delhi ai 122 although the screen was not working,food was good flight was pleasent,enough legroom although it was late nothing too bad except screen not working

Very poor customer service especially the staff at checkin today. No clear communication. Very bad passenger interaction. This leads to ineffective communication which makes travel diffIcult.

I am genuinely appalled and disgusted by my experience with Air India
I had just evacuated from Dubai due to an active conflict, leaving in extremely urgent and distressing circumstances with only the essential belongings I could carry. I was travelling with three suitcases containing everything I currently need, with no certainty about when I would be able to return home.
Despite clearly explaining this situation, I was met with complete indifference at the airport. I was literally laughed at by staff, and it was obvious that no one cared about the circumstances, I was simply told to pay. In the end, I was charged £250 for excess luggage, with no discretion or empathy whatsoever.
What makes this even worse is the complete lack of customer service afterwards. I have emailed multiple contacts over the past two months and have not received a single response. Their live chat function doesn’t work, leaving no way to get support or even an acknowledgment. It feels like they are happy to take your money and then simply don’t care.
To be treated this way after fleeing a crisis is shocking. It felt like profit was prioritised over humanity at every step.
Based on this experience, I would strongly advise others to avoid like the plague. If this is how Air India treats people in genuinely difficult situations, it raises serious concerns about their values and customer care.
An incredibly disappointing and upsetting experience.

THE WORST AUR LINE I EVER BEEN THROUGH!!!! 😡😡😡😡
My Plain came 1,5 days later and nothing worked out well.
To get an German person, was not easy, to get informed everything was horrible.
They informed me 2 h before the flight goes, that it’s flight 1 day later.
And to get an answer per email….. there like 2 months later, I’m sorry we can’t do anything. Bye ! 😡

Failure to Deliver Basic Customer Service

My experience with Air India on flight AI 2015 (Delhi–Heathrow, 21 February) reflects a serious breakdown in both operational handling and customer service.

The flight was cancelled over an hour after its scheduled departure, following a prolonged period of poor communication at the gate. Passengers were then sent back through immigration and left to navigate an unclear and dis-organised process.

I approached the Air India desk immediately and was among the first in line. A supervisor explicitly confirmed that I had been rebooked on the 06:15 a.m. flight the following day, with accommodation arranged. I even agreed to downgrade from Premium to Economy to facilitate this.

Relying on that confirmation, I rearranged important professional commitments.

After waiting for over an hour, I was then told the flight was full and no seat had been secured. This was a clear failure to honour what had already been confirmed. Given my position in the queue and flexibility, this is simply unacceptable.

I was forced to arrange my own alternative travel at additional cost.

The situation is made worse by the complete lack of meaningful follow-up. Attempts to escalate have resulted in either silence or generic, templated responses such as:

“This constitutes our final position…”

This gives the clear impression that customer complaints are not properly reviewed, but dismissed.

This is not about a cancellation — these happen. This is about poor handling, broken assurances, and a lack of accountability.

Would have given 0 stars if I could.
Poor Customer service, harassment and extortion even. Was made to pay 75USD while boarding my connecting flight because my cabin baggage exceeded 7Kgs.
They did not raise any concern while I boarded from London, but when I was boarding my connecting flight in India after having done ton of shopping at the duty free, they checked my hand baggage which obviously would exceed 7Kgs after the shopping.
Extortion because could not discard what I had just shopped, was not made aware that this would be an issue later on.

Will cut to the chase, this airline should be shut down or invest in a suitable infrastructure . Plane from Phuket to London via Delhi cancelled, next one connection was changed with 30 mins connection. Next offer Phuket to Hydrebad to Delhi to London. Arrived at airport only to be told you need an Indian visa....Air Indias next offer was to fly us back in 5 days. No customer service, no one responds to emails regarding refunds and compensation after nearly a month. Utter disgrace, if I was living in India I would demand they change their name as reflects badly on the country

I would like to especially thank Ms. Anjali (Cabin Crew), who was extremely helpful, kind, and one of the most patient crew members I have ever encountered.

Due to the humid conditions at Mumbai airport, the flight became quite uncomfortable, and some passengers were understandably frustrated. Despite this, Ms. Anjali handled the situation with remarkable patience and maintained a warm smile throughout, even though the circumstances were beyond her control. Her professionalism and positive attitude were truly commendable.

More power to her—we need more people like Ms. Anjali.

Also, a special mention for the chocolate mousse—it was absolutely delicious (though you might be spoiling us a bit!).

Thank you once again for the excellent service.

Worsted service. Pls don't book anyone.

Honestly, I wish there was a 0-star option.
First, my flight was cancelled, which is already frustrating—but what’s worse is the experience after that. Getting a refund has been an exhausting process. I’ve had to follow up multiple times, only to receive repetitive or irrelevant responses.
Very disappointing experience. Would not recommend based on how poorly this situation has been handled.

I was a bit concerned about Air India after reading the reviews. We flew from India to Kathmandu in April 2026. We've booked it via KLM. Was a good flight, on time, for a 1,5 hr flight a good aircraft, luggage arrived (was checked-in in Amsterdam for the whole flight) Friendly personnel. The only thing what was confusing is that you had change your ticket on the airport. You have two big counters. Take the left one and be patient. Since I lost my preferred seats what I had paid for, I got my money back after I filed an online refund request. So, at the end, a good experience.

7 members of my family were on a flight from Delhi to Kathmandhu. I was upgraded to 2a and my sister to the seat next to me. We happily settled into our upgraded seats. A female steward then told my sister she shouldn't be in this seat. She wouldn't listen when we showed her our upgraded boarding passes. She then walked off without any assurance or explanation leaving us feeling like we shouldn't be there. After a considerable time a gentleman boarded and took the seat next to me. My sister was told to sit in the opposite aisle seat. There was no apology for the airlines mistake or for the embarrassment my sister suffered. The 2 cabin crew were very sullen and I think some further training in customer care is long overdue. We had earlier taken a flight from Rome to Delhi and found the crew to be an improvement (which wouldn't have been hard !) Needless to say none of us will ever travel with Air India in the future

I recently had one of the worst travel experiences I’ve encountered with India Airlines. From start to finish, the entire journey felt disorganized, frustrating, and frankly unacceptable.
The staff were miserable and unhelpful. Simple questions were met with dismissive attitudes, and it often felt like passengers were an inconvenience rather than valued customers. There was no sense of professionalism or willingness to assist, which made an already stressful trip even worse.
To make matters worse, the flight was significantly delayed with missed connections with little to no communication from staff. Miserable staff on the flights and at the airport. horrible food, around 40% of the tv screens on the flights did not work. No food vouchers when I had to wait 8 hours for next connection.
Staff at Delhi airport were so rude and miserable, not helpful at all.
Completely ruined my holiday. An original 24 hour flight with 1 connection actually took 40 hours.
I arrived a day late at my destination and returning I arrived 8 hours later than planned.
I recommend saving a little extra for a quality airline and NOT flying air India

My partner recently travelled on Air India. As a doctor, she assisted a patient during the flight, and I was surprised that despite her journey being very disrupted and changing the experience, by having to step in and help, there was no acknowledgment, good will or care from the airline. If anything, that reflects their attitude more than anything else. I am genuinely surprised and incredibly disappointed.

Avoid AirIndia at any cost.
Very disappointed with how Air India handled this.

On flight AI169 (18 March 2026), cabin crew asked for medical help and, as the only doctor onboard, I stepped in. The captain later said an emergency landing may have been required without my help.

I had paid for business class ahead of a night shift, yet only managed around 2 hours’ sleep on an 11-hour flight due to managing the situation.

Air India called my actions “invaluable,” but refused any goodwill gesture or compensation, citing policy.

Poorly handled.