A passenger flying Air India First Class from Chicago to Delhi was shocked after he discovered how filthy the cabin was, and his Instagram video went viral quickly, prompting a response from the carrier.
The passenger who paid cash for the one way fare documented a filthy cabin, defective seats and entertainment systems, missing items from the dining menu and an overall shocking state of the plane.
Air India was never known for stellar service and reliable flight operations, but despite there were some positive news in recent years as the company was taken over by TATA, it seems there was no proper upkeep of their most premium cabins.
The passenger, a Chicago-based finance entrepreneur named Anip Patel, uploaded the reel of Air India’s First Class cabin three days ago, and it has gathered over 8 Million views on his account alone.
Without further delay, enjoy it yourselves:
When someone books a First Class flight, I think it’s not too much to ask that a carrier that actually sells this class of service makes sure the cabin is in proper condition and would pay any kind of hommage to a true First Class.
As reported by the Times of India, this situation escalated rather quickly, and Air India apparently felt compelled to contact the passenger for damage control.
As Mr. Patel noted, nothing really worked on board, nor was it even remotely up to the standard of an international First Class cabin:
I recently endured a 15-hour non-stop flight from Chicago to Delhi, and it was far from pleasant. I had heard negative things about Air India in the past, but I was hoping the recent changes under new management would improve the experience—unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. There was no Wi-Fi, and the in-flight entertainment was down for the entire flight. First class was in poor condition—unclean, with leftover food and trash still in the cabin, and everything looked worn out or broken. It was a pretty frustrating experience overall. Be aware if you’re flying with them.
I think he hit the nail right on the head here. To describe his experience in one word I think FILTHY would be the best way. Absolutely horrendous.
Two days after documenting his ordeal, Anip apparently received a full refund of the fare following a call from Air India customer care executives:
I did not file any complaint with @airindia but through social media they saw this video – they called me today and refunded my entire flight 🇮🇳 they did make it right and it’s worth noting.
I looked into the schedule and was surprised to see that there is indeed only ONE nonstop flight between Chicago and Delhi which is operated by Air India. So yes, despite knowing full well how trashy it is someone who needs to go ORD-DEL as fast as possible has not much choice here.
Although I’d probably err on the side of caution and say that considering Air India’s bad operational record maybe considering a connection flight won’t add that much time in case AI encouters one of their infamous 20+ hour rolling delays (have seen a bunch of these in Frankfurt, although that’s been quite a long time ago when they still flew the 747s).
About a year ago, there was another recent review of Air India First Class on a B777-300 by Paul Lucas, who flew it on a short domestic hop from Mumbai to Delhi (Spoiler Alert: it didn’t exactly receive a stellar review either).
Color me surprised that the cabin was a complete disaster even a year ago and it was probably never properly cleaned since. If you compare the state of the cabin back then with the IG Reel you seen progressive deterioration.
Not sure if it was actually the same aircraft but all of them that feature this cabin are pretty much the same with filth being the common denominator.
Conclusion
A businessman flew Air India First Class on the Chicago-New Delhi route in First Class and it wasn’t really up to any standard to say the least. He encountered a disgusting cabin with numerous defects and plenty of missing items from the F&B menu.
The viral Instagram reel was accessed 8+ million times and Air India reached out to the passenger for a full refund which was a revenue based ticket for US$6300.
I wonder if the ORD-DEL route isn’t profitable enough for other carriers like American Airlines or United to operate their own flights. While none of them are exactly stellar, they’re infinetely better than Air India.
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