Air India Express operates as a separate airline, so it says. Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India and is part of the Tata Group, which acquired a 100% stake in the airline. (https://www.tata.com/business/air-india-express). Yet Air India express is not a member of Star Alliance, so Star Alliance gold members do not receive the benefits they would had they traveled on a mainline Air India flight. Even though it's a subsidiary of Air India, which is a Star Alliance airline. Very frustrating.
When landing in Hyderabad, the pilot made a hard landing. Everyone in the plane were shocked. The captain landed the plane hard and felt as if we were going to be thrown out from our seats. It was surprising the captain didn't apologize or make an announcement about. Again a surprise no crew acknowledge this. This was an odd experience!
I appreciated a meal on the shorter flight. It was slightly delayed with no announcement but I was able to determine what was happening.
I don't think there were entertainment options (short flight) - which is why I gave the 'ok' sign. Didn't make a diff in my flight experience either way, however
Too bad. Got too much trouble with security screening at New Delhi
Everything was bad o entertainment no nice food crew were pathetic as not helping us at any time
We had a pleasant journey in Air India. Commentable service was provided by the Cabin crew.
Poor flight and poor service on Air India service back to US
In my row, nobody's entertainment screen worked - my audio didn't work, my husband's touchscreen didn't work, and the third seat guy's screen was blank! the remote control didn't work on anyone's - which meant we couldn't press the call sign for the steward, we couldn't turn on or off the lights overhead, and we couldn't turn the volume up or down. If entertainment is not your big criteria, maybe going to the toilet/loo is? For a full flight, there were only a handful of toilets to begin with. and then one broke - didn't flush, and the others had a waiting line over over 40 mins. God bless your bladder!! Suggest you wear an adult diper. The hot food was good, honestly, but just get rid of the cold bread! who would eat a cold piece of bread roll/dinner roll. Just don't give it! The crew though were great, I really felt for them, managing a chaotic environment with a shitty plane, God bless them. Overall, never flying this airline. But I wish Tata does something and brings their new planes, because I would love to be a proud Air India traveling Indian. No other flight just gets me from Chicago directly to India!
Our flight was cancelled due to technical issues. Air India staff caused each one of us to go through nightmare before finally placing us in a hotel by 2 am. I was asked to share a single room with a stranger. I insisted that I cannot share the room as I needed privacy due to my vulnerable medical situation (Heart issues, High blood pressure, High Cholesterol and Type 2 diabetics). Even after explaining my medical situation and the need for privacy, Air India instructed the hotel to charge me Rs 4000 for the room and I was forced to pay the amount at 2 am (roughly $49). Air India should refund the amount I paid for my hotel room, at the minimum. Air India didn't have any Standard Operating Procedure to do what/how/when/by whom under this situation. Mom with babies, Elderly people and people with medical condition like me were forced to wander from here to there and talk to each person right from 10pm all the way till 2am. The Air India staff didn't have PA system to give a consistent announcement, instead they were murmuring on a one-o-one basis with more than 200 passengers. It was a sight of utter mismanagement and lack of commonsense. I will not ever, I MEAN EVER TRAVEL an Air India flight even if it is free, and will not recommend Air India to anyone I care.
