A few days ago I had the privilege to take a trip to Colombo, Sri lanka, and my air companion just so happened to be the very airline that has been the talk of the town for the last few years, Air India.
I had never flown in this airline before despite it once being my countries national carrier. However, ever since it had been bought back by its original owners, i closely followed the airline and its updates, and there was always a part of me that wanted to fly with them ever since then, and to my luck, i finally got the chance to do so.
Business Class
It was an early morning flight at the crack of dawn, 6 AM and we were greeted in the check in counter with energetic crews. We had booked a Business Class ticket for the one way to Colombo and the smile on my face and the excitement that i was barely able to control was simply unbelievable. The fact that i was flying Business was simply joyous to me and i couldn’t wait to board the flight. The flight in itself was enough to satisfy me for the whole trip and i simply cant express the happiness i felt in words.
The flight was on time and the whole procedure to the gate was smooth. A short well managed queue and little to none waiting time made it all the more easier for us to get to our plane, however to our disappointment, we were taken to our plane in a bus rather than a Jetway, something that would have made the boarding process more convenient for us.
As i stepped out of the bus i swiveled my head up to take a look at the giant metal bird that i would be sitting in for the next 1 hour, it was an older Air India aircraft, still rocking the old livery of Air India, a livery that embodies India’s rich culture and heritage through its bright red and subtle yellow wheel and to top it off the windows intricately designed with classic a Rajasthani arch, a all in all it is a livery that i much prefer to their newer more modern yet somehow soulless livery on my opinion
The boarding was quite fast considering that the aircraft was not nearly at its full capacity and we were welcomed with warm smiles from the Cabin Crew. The luxury began from the moment we entered the plane as we were guided to our seats and then served a fresh cup of orange juice that woke me up from my morning grogginess. Within a few minutes we were handed warm wet towels to freshen up which was thoughtful of the airline.
The seats had massive legroom, for someone of my size at least and the cabin was neatly maintained and decent enough. There were also complimentary blankets that were nice and comfy and the seat came with a very nice neck rest that gave a nice support to my head. All in all the Cabin was quite comfy and it was a pleasant place to spend the next one hour for me, however the seats had a cloth finish that looked quite worn out and dull and there were no infotainment screens unfortunately(we were however given access to a choice of movies,songs and podcasts through Air India’s own entertainment service that could only be accessed by a personal device) , and considering the fact that Air India is undergoing a renovation of sorts i expected the cabin to carry out a new fresher look.
Within a few minutes, service began and we were given a choice between 4 or 5 meals out of which only one was non-veg and i was displeased to find out that they were out of meals for the one non-veg option they had and so i was served the non-veg option from economy class which consisted of a horrible tasting block of egg that looked as artificial as A.I topped of with a spoon of baked beans that i somewhat enjoyed.
The meal was accompanied with a small cup of assorted fruits and an amazingly bun that was as fluffy as the clouds we were flying above, they also served me an additional cup of orange juice upon my request. The meal was enough to fill me up and after we were done they came around with a basket of danish breads that i politely denied because i knew my stomach had no space left unlike the rest of this aircraft.
Although the food was underwhelming the crew were extremely polite and apologized for the lack of the non-veg meal that i had asked for and they made sure i was satisfied by asking me several if there was anything else i wanted, a gesture that reminded me of how typical Indian households treat their guests. Oh, and not to mention the dining experience felt luxurious as they neatly placed a dove white table cloth on the stow away table and handed out cold towels for us at the end of the meal, furthermore we were given silver cutlery and ceramic bowls, which made it feel more homely.
The cabin crew were extremely kind and came around several times to check on us, they even offered me an ice pack after i embarrassingly hit my head on the plane, which was thoughtful of them and by the end of the flight i was all happy and satisfied seeing the amazing care and attention the crew had given us all along the flight. And with that my short experience in Air Indias’s Business class came to an end, it was something i thoroughly enjoyed and would love to try again but on a longer flight as 1 hour is too little to experience the true Business class experience.
Finally i would rate this experience a 8/10, i feel the lack of a Business class Non-veg meal and the absence of an infotainment screen was what pulled the experience down by 2 points, nevertheless for a simple one hour flight Air India did a very decent Job .
Economy
In the Return flight from Colombo we were booked on Economy class seats and straight from the airport our experience began. Unluckily but maybe not unsurprisingly our flight was delayed by 1 hour which in any normal case would be frustrating, but to me, that meant 1 extra hour of plane spotting which somewhat negated the frustration that the flights delay had brought to us.
After patiently waiting, we finally boarded our flight but this time our welcome wasn’t so warm. We were ushered on to our seats and this time we weren’t provided the luxury of refreshments and warm paper towels which was expected but at least the cabin crew were decently sweet yet i could see the exhaustion on their face considering this was probably their last flight of the day.
Unlike Business class, there’s nothing much to talk about the experience in economy other than the meals they provided us with. As usual, i went with the non-veg option and this time the food was quite decent considering it was an economy meal. The food was piping hot and came with an assortment of sides such as a cup of yogurt or “Dahi” as they call it in India, a small bun with a packet of butter and a Cake that seemed to look like some chocolate chip dessert of sorts.
The main dish was steamed ghee rice with a side of an orangy-red chicken curry and a very pale and unappetizing scoop of brown Dahl which i stayed away from as much as i could.
The Chicken curry on the other hand was devoured by me and it was honestly quite appealing and amazing to my taste buds. The Chicken was wonderfully soft and the curry had a cozy, homely taste to it with the right amount of spiciness and flavour for me, and paired with the rice it was the perfect meal to have when i was 30000 feet up in the air with a growling stomach.
After Demolishing that mean meal of chicken and rice i set eyes on my next target, the block of cake that was sitting there staring at me. I dug my spoon in expecting a hard stale cake but instead it was fabulously fluffy and what took me by surprise by even more was that there was a pool of gooey custard that it was resting on. I took a big bite with the two together and my mouth was dancing around from all the flavours, ah at last my sweet tooth was satisfied. The cake had just the right level of sweetness and the custard wasn’t too overpowering either. a very unique combo that i really bonded with. However the custard had a hint of sourness that i couldn’t determine the source of, it made me wonder if it was a mango custard instead but i couldn’t come to a conclusion, anyways, the dessert was quite pleasing and i was left satisfied by the end of the meal in a way that the business class meal didn’t satisfy me.
Compared to the business class experience I’d rate the economy class a 6.5 or 7/10, the meal was palatable and satisfying, though there were fewer assortments and we weren’t attended too repeatedly, it still left a good taste in our mouth and there was nothing that was “Disappointing” in the economy class. The only things i missed were resting on a magnificent throne of an airplane seat and have a flight crew to tend to me at any moment that i required assistance or something to fill my stomach.
Overall
The overall experience of Air India was good enough for me to want to fly with them again, but still not good enough for me to go around saying they’re the best airline I’ve ever flown with, and although there were a few things that could have been worked on here and there, i see massive potential in the airline and hope that one day they compete with the international carriers that are known for their luxury and services that they provide.