anyone flew air india, to jfk?

hi all .... anyone flew with air india? esp to jfk?

How funny!  My SO's boss just came from JFK via Air India.  He said not only was his flight delayed for 3 hrs, but the service was crap and his food was actually frozen!!  It actually had a layer of ice on the top of it, apparently.  When he complained, they scowled, gave him another one which was only slightly less frozen .

So I'm assuming that's a "stay the hell away"!  I think it's one of those you get what you pay for situations.

Just FYI...that's the only experience I've heard of personally with them.

thanks! turns out will be flying aircanada got my ticket for 250£ to bwi! roundtrip they are having a great sale.......

I have never flown them to/from the US myself but I know plenty of people who have and haven't had any real problems.  But you get what you pay for.  The prices they offer sometimes are pretty amazing.

On my first trip to England I flew Air India with no problems and the food was fine, thankfully it was fully cooked.  They were cheap, but the service was good and the costumes were nice.  I think you will find with every airline you have horror stories and ones that sing their praises.  Best of luck on your trip and good researching.

We have flown air india to chicago.  I suppose for the deal we got we shouldn't complain but it was manic from the get go.  Before you even board the plan there is this mass rush to get to the front.  The people who work there (don't know what they are called)  had to yell several times that if people DID NOT FORM A STRAIGHT LINE THE PLANE WOULD NOT TAKE OFF!!!  I don't mind flying with a majority of Indians but my own manager who is Indian had warned me that in India they don't queue for anything because it's pretty much a free for all.  If you don't rush and push you won't ever get on a train, bus, etc.  And that is what it was like at the airport.  Despite the fact they called seat numbers for people to board people would not part ways and let others through.  It was a nightmare!  The food was disgusting.  I like Indian food but when we looked around and not even the Indians themselves were eating it, we knew it must be pretty bad.  The plane was old, uncomfortable, and hot.  There were no individual fan/air conditioning vents.  There is absolutely no room if the people in front of you decided to lay their seats back the whole journey.  I nearly got very ill because it was so hot on the plane. I was starting to get a sense of claustophobia.   It was miserable!

so air canada is looking better thanks and sorry to hear that whisper.....

My daughter flew Air India into Heathrow from JFK. Considering all our experieinces with airlines, they rank better than the American ones (United and American, haven't tried Continental yet). They also rank as good as BA, but not as good as Virgin. The food was fine, the service good. Hope that helps.

what about air india and take your own food?

good idea kathleen, i always do anyways, as im diabetic, and need to lil snacks, u know i prefer ba over virgin, i wasnt impressed... the seats are small!

I've flown Air India from Heathrow to Chicago three times and had zero problems at all. The flight was on time, the service was brilliant, the food was nice and the price was right!

I've flown Air India once, from Bombay to London.  I wouldn't recommend them at all.


Vicky

I know you've sorted yourself out, but wanted to add - our Virgin flight was cancelled once (plane never left Newark to come back to London because of tech issues), so they bundled us all on an Air India flight that left an hour EARLIER than the Virgin one was scheduled.  It was handled really badly by Virgin, but the flight itself wasn't bad.  The plane wasn't as nice and new as a Virgin plane would be and it was a jumbo so it was huge.  I'm not a fan of Indian food at the best of times and I get a nervous stomach when I fly, so you can imagine how the meal went for me..   In-flight entertainment was okay (not as bad as American Airlines!) and as someone else mentioned, the saris were beautiful! 

Hiya!

Haha, mixed bag even from this post!

Air India, I flew em one time Heathrow to JFK and seems you lot had it quite easy! I get on baord and I'm placed next to elderly mr and mrs first time outta india to see their kids in the US. Old guy starts pestering me about what he will have to do when he gets to JFK. Pesters me more about those 'green forms' and pesters me more about what he needs to say to the immigration people - I should have charged him 1000 rupees for becoming an instant immigration consultant! sort of gives up and the plane takes off and he falls asleep with his face almost on my shoulder! my Aunty in the seat next to the aisle is laughing at me, then she goes to sleep. Cue next 4 hours or so me occasionally flickin my shoulder/elbow to get his face away from me!

the bunch of english/american people in the middle aisle area are loving all the food and the hilariousness of the indian film being played.

Descent time, old boy wakes up starts jabberin with his wife and I can tell they want me to fill their forms in - right on cue he asks - my aunty laughs at me some more - I fill in the form for him, and then about 10 other nearby people kinda look over and ask me as well ! im like WTF !  plane lands, I tell my aunty I'm going to leg it out of the plane, get our luggage and get through to customs asap so that all these 'fellow countrymen' dont pester me anymore and that I'll meet her there with the family who pick us up.

Plan worked!

return trip a couple weeks later was uneventful.

I'd fly them again - but only if i have to!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Haven't flown them to the US but from London to Delhi and Madras to London. They aren't great about queuing but frankly, I don't care. I'm happy to wait in the waiting area until the plane is mostly boarded before getting on. I can't bear that early crush and don't see what the hurry is. Same for getting off. Why do we all have to stand up and take our stuff down at the same time when we know it's gonna be ages before we actually can move off?!

The food to and from India was fantastic (curry) and everyone was eating it. I don't recall any problems with the service or the plane. Or if so, nothing any worse than any other airline I've flown!