Should we book cheap J ticket HK-AMS via Delhi on Air India?

[MickyS]

I've been trying to find J class Qantas reward seats from Melbourne to Amsterdam for July, for me and my husband (one way only), checking at least 4 times per week since December. When I found 2 available seats to Hong Kong back in March, I booked those (for 6 July), but so far I have been unsuccessful in finding any seats for the rest of the trip a few days later - except for quite convoluted itineraries with 2 extra stops, which we're not interested in.

So I am now also looking at buying tickets for the HK-AMS leg, which generally costs around $5K+ for nonstop and from about $3,500 with 1 stop. However, there are J seats on Air India for just $2,300 on Mondays, flying via Delhi. I can't decide whether I should just book those or hold out for any possible reward options opening up in the remaining 6 weeks. Any advice? I don't know Air India at all, but it sounds like a good deal considering we mostly just want to be able to lie flat flying to Europe and have a smooth check-in experience etc.

 

[bam71]

No way I’m flying on AI …

 

[jase05]

You would have to pay me to fly on AI for long haul. They are bad enough for a 2hr flight so no way am I flying to Europe with them. Perhaps in a couple of years when a broom is run through the place and the new products arrive I’d reconsider

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have flown Air India many many times… it’s not top tier by any stretch of the imagination… but the beds are flat, the food is tasty, the champagne is chilled. PJs comes as standard and the amenity kit isn’t half bad.

With the TATA/SQ takeover there have already been incremental improvements in the soft product. Not a lot they can do about the hard product until they can get new seats and new planes.

But that said, for a couple travelling the pair of seats by the window are perfectly fine, and they’re full forward facing, meaning no little nooks or footwells to have to cram your feet into.

I’d avoid the 777, angled lay flats. But the 787 is acceptable as per above. For $2300 and a 787 I’d go for it.

 

[MickyS]

No way I’m flying on AI …

May I ask why not? I have seen some negative sentiment online, but without details and not knowing the airline at all, I'm trying to find out what the issues are that people have with them.

Post automatically merged: May 25, 2023

You would have to pay me to fly on AI for long haul. They are bad enough for a 2hr flight so no way am I flying to Europe with them. Perhaps in a couple of years when a broom is run through the place and the new products arrive I’d reconsider

When you say they're bad enough for a short flight, what exactly is bad about the airline, if I may ask? I'm sorry but I can't seem to find out where the problems lie.

 

[MickyS]

I have flown Air India many many times… it’s not top tier by any stretch of the imagination… but the beds are flat, the food is tasty, the champagne is chilled. PJs comes as standard and the amenity kit isn’t half bad.

With the TATA/SQ takeover there have already been incremental improvements in the soft product. Not a lot they can do about the hard product until they can get new seats and new planes.

But that said, for a couple travelling the pair of seats by the window are perfectly fine, and they’re full forward facing, meaning no little nooks or footwells to have to cram your feet into.

I’d avoid the 777, angled lay flats. But the 787 is acceptable as per above. For $2300 and a 787 I’d go for it.

Thank you very much for this thoughtful response. I'll try to find out a bit more about the flights and the planes being used.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

May I ask why not? I have seen some negative sentiment online, but without details and not knowing the airline at all, I'm trying to find out what the issues are that people have with them.

Post automatically merged: May 25, 2023

When you say they're bad enough for a short flight, what exactly is bad about the airline, if I may ask? I'm sorry but I can't seem to find out where the problems lie.

The planes can be a bit tatty. The crew can appear disengaged. The meal service is mostly all on one tray, not served course by course. But that’s reflected in the price at the moment. Yeah, they can get delayed, but as an Air India representative to,d me once… ‘we will always eventually fly, not cancel’. So you know, that had its advantages when flying around india and there was only one flight a day on some routes!

Perception of safety can be a concern to some people. But I don’t think AI is any worse than a whole bunch of other carriers including some of the big European and Asian airlines.

 

[Vic]

Thank you very much for this thoughtful response. I'll try to find out a bit more about the flights and the planes being used.

Have you tried some travel vlogs on U-tube. Can usually get a decent review from recent flights.



I'm laughing about dismissing a long haul business class seat based on a 2 hour flight. I would've thought there was no basis for comparison - chalk and cheese.
I mean if I consider 2 hours on a Qantas 737 should I say no way to business on a qantas 787 or A380 to europe?

 

[jase05]

Have you tried some travel vlogs on U-tube. Can usually get a decent review from recent flights.



I'm laughing about dismissing a long haul business class seat based on a 2 hour flight. I would've thought there was no basis for comparison - chalk and cheese.
I mean if I consider 2 hours on a Qantas 737 should I say no way to business on a qantas 787 or A380 to europe?

If you are referring to my comments I will reply that as well as some short Asia to India flights with them we have also flown with them on a return SYD-DEL trip. I found the seats comfortable enough and was able to get some sleep, the meals were ok and the entertainment was sufficient. Where I felt let down was the filthy cabin and seat in particular with some sticky liquid over my IFE screen also. I found the staff on both legs to be pretty unhelpful to the point of being rude and we also found the experience at DEL airport to be its normal poor quality. They are not on my banned list but even with a very attractive price I would probably give them a miss for now. I know plenty who enjoy them and they do have some very attractive fares.

 

[jpp42]

If you had your choice, you'd definitely avoid DEL airport regardless of AI's amenity or lack thereof. One thing to note is that if you're travelling onward from DEL on another carrier and attempting to do an airside international transfer, the process is terrible - you could be sitting for hours in a bench, not allowed through transfer security until a check-in agent from your onward airline can physically come issue a boarding pass and allow you to enter. This shouldn't be an issue for AI since they have enough flights and do staff the transfer desk, but still watch out for problems with this if you have a long layover or are arriving at an off-peak time. Also consider that getting an eVisa and entering India (if you miss your connection or a flight is cancelled), can be problematic depending on your nationality, and is annoying enough even if you are authorised. However, Delhi Airport does have a wide selection of hotels on the airport property if this does eventuate - the JW Marriott is nice.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Avoid Air India. Flying business class in no way guarantees any better level of service by them.

You may need to double check the situation on Transit/Visas also, the Australian High Commission website, that states:

INDIAN VISAS

Australian nationals require a valid visa for entry into India, either as a tourist or in transit or in any other capacity.

If a Visa is required to Transit, another strong reason to avoid Air India

 

[jb747]

Do a search for India and fake pilot licences.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Avoid Air India. Flying business class in no way guarantees any better level of service by them.

You may need to double check the situation on Transit/Visas also, the Australian High Commission website, that states:



If a Visa is required to Transit, another strong reason to avoid Air India

A visa is not required for airside transit. ‘Transit’ visas are for layovers longer than 24 hours, or where you might otherwise need to enter india, but are still there for transit (for example a domestic connecting flight to catch another international flight).

For AI-AI transfers the process was relatively smooth last time I was there, which admittedly was pre-covid. There was an extra security step to get my boarding pass stamped or wherever, but it wasn’t arduous.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Do a search for India and fake pilot licences.

That is errr.. shocking. Not only that the licences were fake, but that they actually managed to fly the planes!

I think China also has the same problem? I was on the maglev from shanghai airport one time and the guy across from me, a foreigner, was just back from somewhere where a dodgy optometrist issued his clearance to fly. Even though the guy wouldn’t have been allowed to otherwise. Apparently there were doctors that would issue clearances for all sorts of things

I like to think - hope?? - that by the time a pilot gets into a 777 or 787 they either have been checked for a real licence, or got enough experience to fly the plane anyway!

Fake licences or not, it only serves to partially give assurance. Presumably the Air France pilots were licensed, but still couldn’t fly the plane. Then there are mental health issues. Licensed, but still not fit to fly.

 

[MickyS]

If you had your choice, you'd definitely avoid DEL airport regardless of AI's amenity or lack thereof. One thing to note is that if you're travelling onward from DEL on another carrier and attempting to do an airside international transfer, the process is terrible - you could be sitting for hours in a bench, not allowed through transfer security until a check-in agent from your onward airline can physically come issue a boarding pass and allow you to enter. This shouldn't be an issue for AI since they have enough flights and do staff the transfer desk, but still watch out for problems with this if you have a long layover or are arriving at an off-peak time. Also consider that getting an eVisa and entering India (if you miss your connection or a flight is cancelled), can be problematic depending on your nationality, and is annoying enough even if you are authorised. However, Delhi Airport does have a wide selection of hotels on the airport property if this does eventuate - the JW Marriott is nice.

The cheap fare is on AI with a transfer to another plane in Delhi, so no need to transfer to another carrier or get out of the airport. Hopefully that should all go smoothly then, but it's a short layover and I did see the HK-DEL flight gets delayed sometimes. So not ideal, and your information doesn't instill confidence that all will go well.

 

[MickyS]

Thanks for your input everyone. Safety and flying stress-free is important to us, so we'll probably give this deal a miss.

 

[lifeofhaz98]

Air India is improving and their long haul business product on 787 isnt bad. On long haul international flights the safety would not be an issue either (domestic would be a different thing)

 

[PERLHR]

The planes can be a bit tatty. The crew can appear disengaged. The meal service is mostly all on one tray, not served course by course. But that’s reflected in the price at the moment. Yeah, they can get delayed, but as an Air India representative to,d me once… ‘we will always eventually fly, not cancel’. So you know, that had its advantages when flying around india and there was only one flight a day on some routes!

Perception of safety can be a concern to some people. But I don’t think AI is any worse than a whole bunch of other carriers including some of the big European and Asian airlines.

And Qantas are better in terms of being tatty, crew disengaged and food being nicer..?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

And Qantas are better in terms of being tatty, crew disengaged and food being nicer..?

about three times more so… given the price!

 

[kpro]

The last time I flew AI was a 3 hour domestic trip in Y which felt like 6 hours.

The food and lounge were non-memorable, service dis-engaged and the aircraft was shocking. Of note was that they had de-commissioned the IFE system on their A320's and instead of removing the screens, they rather shoddily put seat covers on top of them.

Would take a QF 737 any day over that.