Air India, BigReg's Story

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

Well a lot of you guys know about the problems i had after having booked with air india. having booked back in july, i thought i had got a pretty good deal, paying 1335 english pounds for myself, and my 2 sons to fly out on 29th december until 13th january. Everything seemed fine as i received my e ticket straight after booking, sorted. Not so, about 3 weeks later, i received a call from southall travel telling me that the flight no from delhi to bangkok had changed and so my e ticket wasnt valid but not to worry as i should have a new e ticket within the week with the new flight no on there. Well I waited and waited for my new e ticket, i must have called southall travel (all indians with no customer service skills, just kept telling me to wait, they were all very rude and had bad english language skills, many of them i coulldnt even understand). I also called air india diectly and was told the same thing. I eventually received my e ticket, 3 days before i flew on the 26th december, what a joke.

BM sonny was also booked on the same flight as me and had exactly the same problem, however when he called them around a week before we were due to fly, he was told he was NOT ON THE DELHI TO BANGKOK FLIGHT. WTF!! This was made all the more ridiculous as he had booked a month before me, he booked in june and was now being told nearly 6 months later that he was not on the flight. He was told he would receive a refund but what good is that, he still wanted to go to thailand and so had to book last minute with some other airline, costing him a lot of money, had that been me, i dont think i would have afforded to pay out the extra, absolute joke. It was proven to be even more of a joke as when i was on the delhi to bangkok flight, a person sitting behind me was chatting about when she booked the flight, she said she had booked the flight the week before, so sonny had booked 6 months previous and had his flight cancelled and here was somebody who booked a few days ago and was on the flight!!!!!!!!!!! AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE.

So, after nearly 5 months of stress about the e tickets and countless phonecalls that were all met with rudeness, i was all ready for the worst flight ever.The service in flight from the air hostesses again was terrible, very rude people. The IFE looked ok but on every one of the 4 flights it kept crashing, in the end i gave up. not many drinks came round, if you wanted something, you had to keep asking and requests were met with rudeness.

The transfers in delhi airport were farcical (however the airport itself was ok). huge queues and inept service, ridiculous. And finally, the food was absolutely awful, and i am not a guy as many of you know who shys away from a bit of scran. It was almost inedible, and yes i know its an indian airline and its gonna be indian food, but i like indian food and have flown jet airways before who are also indian and their food was great.

To sum up, I WOULDNT FLY WITH THEM AGAIN IN A MILLION YEARS. Although i suppose i did get there and back in one piece and i did get a very good price, but in the future, i would rather pay an extra couple of hundred quid and not have the stress. also, southall travel can get f****d from now on too. they were awful also. my next trip will be with jet airways most probably, they are fantastic. Just wanted to let you guys know that even though air india are often the cheapest, it really isnt worth going with this disgusting airline.!!!!!

[praf974]

no delays or lost baggage? sounds like a result!!

 

if anyone is trying to book a flight right now opodo are offering £20 off any flight booking through them until the end of jan with voucher code FLY4LESS .. (although i dont think they list air india flights!)

[yogi100]

Well a lot of you guys know about the problems i had after having booked with air india. having booked back in july, i thought i had got a pretty good deal, paying 1335 english pounds for myself, and my 2 sons to fly out on 29th december until 13th january. Everything seemed fine as i received my e ticket straight after booking, sorted. Not so, about 3 weeks later, i received a call from southall travel telling me that the flight no from delhi to bangkok had changed and so my e ticket wasnt valid but not to worry as i should have a new e ticket within the week with the new flight no on there. Well I waited and waited for my new e ticket, i must have called southall travel (all indians with no customer service skills, just kept telling me to wait, they were all very rude and had bad english language skills, many of them i coulldnt even understand). I also called air india diectly and was told the same thing. I eventually received my e ticket, 3 days before i flew on the 26th december, what a joke.

BM sonny was also booked on the same flight as me and had exactly the same problem, however when he called them around a week before we were due to fly, he was told he was NOT ON THE DELHI TO BANGKOK FLIGHT. WTF!! This was made all the more ridiculous as he had booked a month before me, he booked in june and was now being told nearly 6 months later that he was not on the flight. He was told he would receive a refund but what good is that, he still wanted to go to thailand and so had to book last minute with some other airline, costing him a lot of money, had that been me, i dont think i would have afforded to pay out the extra, absolute joke. It was proven to be even more of a joke as when i was on the delhi to bangkok flight, a person sitting behind me was chatting about when she booked the flight, she said she had booked the flight the week before, so sonny had booked 6 months previous and had his flight cancelled and here was somebody who booked a few days ago and was on the flight!!!!!!!!!!! AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE.

So, after nearly 5 months of stress about the e tickets and countless phonecalls that were all met with rudeness, i was all ready for the worst flight ever.The service in flight from the air hostesses again was terrible, very rude people. The IFE looked ok but on every one of the 4 flights it kept crashing, in the end i gave up. not many drinks came round, if you wanted something, you had to keep asking and requests were met with rudeness.

The transfers in delhi airport were farcical (however the airport itself was ok). huge queues and inept service, ridiculous. And finally, the food was absolutely awful, and i am not a guy as many of you know who shys away from a bit of scran. It was almost inedible, and yes i know its an indian airline and its gonna be indian food, but i like indian food and have flown jet airways before who are also indian and their food was great.

To sum up, I WOULDNT FLY WITH THEM AGAIN IN A MILLION YEARS. Although i suppose i did get there and back in one piece and i did get a very good price, but in the future, i would rather pay an extra couple of hundred quid and not have the stress. also, southall travel can get f****d from now on too. they were awful also. my next trip will be with jet airways most probably, they are fantastic. Just wanted to let you guys know that even though air india are often the cheapest, it really isnt worth going with this disgusting airline.!!!!!

 

Glad you got home all right Reg. When my son came to Pattaya we booked him with Southall Travel and they had a very unhelpful attitude. I've steered well clear of them ever since. He flew with Qatar and but in his case the flight itself was A1. It's a very grueling journey and you'd expect the airlines to make it as pleasant as possible.

[Cray]

i thought you was going to ibiza?

[7-Eleven]

and i am not a guy as many of you know who shys away from a bit of scran.

 

I never would have guessed

 

Seriously though was it as bad as duty watch scran?

[Alleycat]

Also have flown Air India and Jet Air..Would never go with Air India again, absolutely appalling sevice both on and off the ground. Jet Air however were excellent and I would certainly highly recommend them as does BigReg. The onboard staff could not do enough for us, being both polite and attentive The stopover was not great, but nothing to complain about and certainly would not figure in any considerations in choosing them in the future.

A definite thumbs up for Jet Air

A definite thunbs down for Air India

[tt2008]

Congrats on getting home despite all the problems.

 

Hopefully others can learn from your experience, Air India (and Southall) generally gets crap reviews all over the place. Its only a 3* airline compared to Thai, Emirates, Eva, BA, Quantas, which are 4*, or Qatar at 5*.

 

You got a good deal on the price and it may have been worth the hassle to save some cash, but I'd rather pay a few £ more (and fly direct) and not have all the stress, I like to arrive fresh and ready to go for the BG's.

 

Best of luck with the next trip.

[nice to visit]

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare. Stressing over your flights is something that can spoil your holiday and just pisses you off because it can all be so easy with the right airline.

[Alleycat]

Must add here that I have had no problem with Southall Travel. Actually they have sorted me out on a few flights I cancelled by, once upgrading me on my next booking and another time refunding half the ticket price even though it stated clearly no refund was forthcoming..

[DAVE6]

A mate of mine flew with air India on the 29 December he is due back next week. When I spoke to him he said it was cheap but the worse air line he had ever been with he has all so said never again.

 

 

[tt2008]

Must add here that I have had no problem with Southall Travel. Actually they have sorted me out on a few flights I cancelled by, once upgrading me on my next booking and another time refunding half the ticket price even though it stated clearly no refund was forthcoming..

 

 

That sounds like great service, nice to hear some good news!!

[kopite]

I haven't flown with them before but i'll definitely not be flying with them in the future. The fact that it was a one off either means a colossal fk up somewhere or they are just dishing out poor service. Either way I wouldn't want to chance it. Shame about that other guy not getting a new flight too, that alone would put me off flying with them.

 

Thanks for the heads up Reg.

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

I never would have guessed

 

Seriously though was it as bad as duty watch scran?

was it fuck!!

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

i thought you was going to ibiza?

lol.. i wouldnt go there if you gave me my spending money. 70 quid to get into a club, sad bastards.

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

Also have flown Air India and Jet Air..Would never go with Air India again, absolutely appalling sevice both on and off the ground. Jet Air however were excellent and I would certainly highly recommend them as does BigReg. The onboard staff could not do enough for us, being both polite and attentive The stopover was not great, but nothing to complain about and certainly would not figure in any considerations in choosing them in the future.

A definite thumbs up for Jet Air

A definite thunbs down for Air India

as usual alley, your on the money mate.

[pallmall]

Welcome back to falangland Reg. Back to shagging all those beautiful women in Hull now?

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

A mate of mine flew with air India on the 29 December he is due back next week. When I spoke to him he said it was cheap but the worse air line he had ever been with he has all so said never again.

he was probably on my flight then.

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

Welcome back to falangland Reg. Back to shagging all those beautiful women in Hull now?

lol. had one last night. it wasnt pretty believe me

[Texas Skibum]

I'm not sure I understand the part about the friend not being booked on certain flights, etc. Once you buy a ticket you should get confirmation via email, etc, about your flights, times etc. Didn't he check those? I'm sure the UK is like the US in that if you have proof of booking and payment has been made, then the travel company and airline are the ones responsible.

Edited January 15, 2011 by texasskibum

[PawYai]

Glad you made it back pal.... Air India you have to remember are a very average airline . Poor paid staff , old equipment and mostly rude passengers ( I did say mostly) I work for Emirates and I witness both the rudeness and kindness of Indians daily.

Any of the mid east airlines are highly recommended but I am totally for emirates especially as the new A380 goes out of Gods very own land of Mancunia these days just down the road from yorkshireland.

Finnair via Helsinki also operate but also check out KLM man via schiphol to bkk direct is a breeze of a route.

You have lots of options pal I know as in everyones case cost is a major consideration but ek averages 430-530 all seasons same same klm, ethiad

Edited January 15, 2011 by PawYai

[PawYai]

Oops sorry mistap on the iPhone .....

Ethiad also offer some great rates too and yes I would avoid southall they are a very large group who specialise in British Asian travel to s. Asia with air India and P.I.A Pakistan international who by the way are by far a better airline than India and operate mainly brand new 777/300 aircraft and in fact were the first airline to get the LR version avods is same as ek flights and food is great if you like Asian food and they fly to bkk via isb ( islamabad ) just another option to consider.

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

I'm not sure I understand the part about the friend not being booked on certain flights, etc. Once you buy a ticket you should get confirmation via email, etc, about your flights, times etc. Didn't he check those? I'm sure the UK is like the US in that if you have proof of booking and payment has been made, then the travel company and airline are the ones responsible.

yes i thought that too. but try calling air india or southall and arguing the fact, dont speak good english and just keep telling you to wait. no matter how strongly you talk to them, they dont care.

[PawYai]

Jet and other budget airlines like emirates very own fly Dubai and Bangkok air and air blue are all in competition with the larger well known airlines , they ensure they give a good service or they would be out of business very quickly.

What I think happened with the bm who got his ticket cancelled was he bought months ago when they sold cheaper rates to fill planes as previously discussed with you pal but as with all busineses money is what it's all about and when flight was full even when selling full rate tickets tgey still got sales they dropped your mate and sold the seat at a higher cost... This does happen and can happen

[PawYai]

With some airlines ( not emirates) once heard of an entire first class section being cancelled on the day as a high placed person wanted it to himself and entourage but that's another story... Anyway reg fook all that get some pics up and spill the beans wanna know what you and the boys got up to pal

[Soi Six Snatch Sniffer]

With some airlines ( not emirates) once heard of an entire first class section being cancelled on the day as a high placed person wanted it to himself and entourage but that's another story... Anyway reg fook all that get some pics up and spill the beans wanna know what you and the boys got up to pal

lol...check out my facebook tony. got the album up. new year 2011 in thailand. obviously having the lads always makes it a low key affair for me but still got in my fair share of hows your father after hours. seriously thinking of an april forray so will be in touch to discuss flight options mate. unless i decide to fly air india again that is .