Air India Complaints & Reviews

Delhi to Newark, USA is a 15 hour flight. None of the entertainment centers worked for economy class passengers.

This is a regular issue that Air India has with their international flights.

Date of flight Feb 9, 2023
Seats 34E & 34F

After Tata took over, the fares have increased and services have deteriorated

We both physicians travelled from JFK to Delhi on January 15th.and the reclining seat was non functional throughout the extended journey. Cabinet crew manager was not helpful. Condition was poor rather grave
On return journey from Delhi to JFK on February 8th. our confirmed seats were changed without permission and the reclining seat was non function in spite of multiple efforts by the cabinet manager. Throughout 15 hours of journey was awful Next to us the seats were assigned to cres members who were sleeping with curtain on.
Why my seat seat was changed to non functional seat without consent.
My handicapped spouse and myself had terrible experience traveling AirIndia to whom we prefer traveling India. Nine of the portal including TV etc were working.
What a horrible experience? Our other colleagues have reported similar experiences.
It should be looked in this
Hopefully this complaint will be attended
Drs Sharwan & Sheila Bagla

Dear Ms. Gupta,

Greetings from Air India!

With reference to your mail.

We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you!

We would like to inform you that, we have forwarded your request to our concerned department. As soon as we receive further information we will get back to you.

Assuring you of our best attention at all times.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

Regards,
Ankit
Air India ?Contact Us Team.
[protected] Original Message[protected]
From: Aashita Gupta [[protected]@gmail.com]
Sent: 24/1/2023 8:44 pm
To: [protected]@airindia.com; [protected]@airindia.in
Subject: PNRMH5TGM Charge Rs 20600 at Mumbai airport for 2nd checkin bag

Dear Sir,
The undersigned (a Masters student travelling to US on F1 visa) had booked under PNR MH5TGM Newark-Mumbai-Newark sector (ticket enclosed). My return was scheduled on 15th Jan 2023 but due to medical reasons I was not in a position to travel and contacted the customer service on 14th Jan afternoon with a request to reschedule my ticket for 20th Jan 2023. I was told that they cannot reschedule and advised me to visit the airport office or city office Mumbai.

On 15th morning I visited the airport office of Air India and they rescheduled my ticket for 20th Jan and charged approx. INR 38000 (tickets enclosed).
When I went to the airport with two bags for checkin I was told that you are allowed only 1 bag and you have to pay for checkin the second bag. I[censored] look at the original ticket I was entitled for 2 checkin baggage and as per Air India policy also for Mumbai Newark sector I was entitled to 2 checkin baggages. (For students travelling on F1 in fact you are entitled for 3 bags ).

I was forced to pay Rs 20600 receipt enclosed else was told that u cannot checkin.(receipt enclosed). I had to undergo a lot of mental agony and somehow managed to pay and move on as I didn’t want to miss my flight.

I need justice as per my original ticket, I was entitled to 2 bags checkin as per Air India policy for this sector and have been forced to pay Rs 20600 at the Mumbai airport .Please arrange for the refund of the amount charged to the same card through which this payment was made.

Regards,
Aashita Ajai Kumar Gupta

On 07/02/2023 at 20.00 PM i booked a ticket for AI554 from Delhi to (MAA) Chennai . An amount of Rs.16735/- deducted and the Bank (SBI)has intimated the deduction ref No.IGAPCICEB6. But I have not received any information in my mail or in mobile regarding the booking or otherwise. my email [protected]@gmail.com

Yesterday 5 feb 2023, my grandmother was travelling from vancouver to delhi on AI186. She is 80 year old and i specially added wheel chair service for her because she cant walk. During check in time i asked them and they said we will provide it once security is done. I cant go with her in the airport. I asked my relative who was travelling with her and she told they refused to provide this service and lied that it is not requested on your ticket btw it was on our special request and she fell down and start bleeding from her arm. I called air india and they said oh we r sorry for our inconvinence we filed a complain against it. I asked her that when she will land is someone will be there and she said yes we will help her because u added this service. But again same thing happen no one came. Firstly how is she supposed to walk that much distance as well as what is going to happen after filing a complain. This is the worst service i ever got. Today i again called air india and they said oh we r sorry i just filed a complaint. The point is what is going to happen after this. Do you guys even care about someone health conditions. what if something will happen to her. No one even provide her dressings when she was bleeding. What m i supposed to do now? Are u able to give me credit or refund for my loss?

I travelled from Delhi to Toronto on 29th January and had some jewellery in my carry bag. I realized my carry bag went for re screening while I was waiting for it to come to me. There were few mins before the carry bag was screened again and it was on the belt in hands of the officer which was suspicious and unrequired. There was no other time that my bag was touched by anybody else in the trip and after coming home I got to know my bag didn’t have one pair of earrings, a bangle, and 2 rings - all gifts of my family while I was departing.

I have cancelled International travel ticket in February 2022 (Ticket no[protected]/44 and case no 18271872, it's been a year after cancellation and I have not received refund yet. Whenever I call customer care they say it's already refunded but can't provide me any reference number. It's total scam they are doing. I have been following up with multiple calls and email and requests through their portal but no luck. Please help me to get my refund at earliest, Thanks.

Following are the chronicle of the event where Air India has not resolved my refund issue even after 5 months:
1. Ticket bought on May 4th, 2022, ticket attached and the number:[protected]
2. Paid on my Citibank credit card ending in 5167 for amount INR 106, 586
3. Cancelled the ticket in August 2022.
4. Followed up continuously for refund and finally Air India said they refunded on 10th of January, 2023 with txn ID: 098KUS74J51HX. Air India will not share the exact refund amount nor will they say whether they received a confirmation of receipt of refund txn from Citibank.
5. On the other hand, Citibank made me wait for 15 days, saying it can take up to 15 days to receive the refund. Now that it is not reflected on my card, Citibank says they can do nothing as Air india will not tell me the amount refunded and the correct 23 digit numeric refund txn ID.
6. I have emailed to Air India and now no response from Air India for the past 5 days.

Following are the chronicle of the event:
1. Ticket bought on May 4th, 2022, ticket attached and the number:[protected]
2. Paid on my Citibank credit card ending in 5167 for amount INR 106, 586
3. Cancelled the ticket in August 2022.
4. Followed up continuously for refund and finally Air India said they refunded on 10th of January, 2023 with txn ID: 098KUS74J51HX. Air India will not share the exact refund amount nor will they say whether they received a confirmation of receipt of refund txn from Citibank.
5. On the other hand, Citibank made me wait for 15 days, saying it can take up to 15 days to receive the refund. Now that it is not reflected on my card, Citibank says they can do nothing.
6. Citibank is asking for the amount refunded and proof of refund with 23 digit numeric refund txn id but Air India will not give anything phone.
7. I have emailed to Air India as well but not a response even from Air India. This is horrible.

This flight from visakhapatnam( originally AI488) for 27th Dec 2022 was cancelled for operational reasons and a substitute 1stop flight was given without notifying me. I came to know this on 26th Dec when I attempted web checking . I would have missed my connecting international flight to London with Vistara which is scheduled to depart Delhi at 1455.
Therefore I requested a cancellation with full refund thand customer service did it after 2 calls and much to and froing.

Our travel agent Southall said that they need an email confirmation confirming full refund. Please send this urgently inorder for them to file an Refund request. After a further 2 phone calls spanning an hour at least, your customer service agent Siddik Kumbhar told me that there is no one I can complain on phone and that they can't send any emails confirming cancellation. I then came back to UK an sent an email complaining about the above and requesting full refund of the the ticket( not just cancellation charges) as well as refund the money I paid in advance for extra luggage. I got the above case ID.
When I rang on 29th Dec, I was told the the refund will be processed in 3 weeks. So I rang today and got fobbed off repeatedly and even cut off when i demanded to speak to their manager by 3 of your customer service agents to contact the travel agents who they say the refund has been sent to. They refused to send a confirmation of money transfer to the travel agents. The travel agents denied that that they received any money.

I am very upset and disappointed that not only did you not inform me about the original flight cancellation by the airlines, all the 4 agents I spoke to on 26th Dec and the three today on 25th Jan either unhelpful, ignorant or plainly uninterested in my plight. They don't seem to care that this could have led to missing my London flight which I fortunately avoided by booking an indigo flight. I am inclined to belive Southall Travels that Air India has not refunded them anything.
It beggars belif that your airlines has stooped to cheating customers, collecting their money and not only not provide the flight but also get away without refunding the ticket and the excess baggage charge. Your agents have the audacity to simply fob me off, keep me hold or simply be rude or disconnect me repeatedly to deter me from getting answer or refund.
Finally, Please take this as a complaint and get back to me ASAP as to how this is happening.
Please send this complaint to the relevant department and sort out my refunds. I wish not to travel again with AIR India again as the service is appaling.
If you do not reply to this within the next 48hours, I wil take this complaint further

I am sharing my worst ordeal with the airindia TATA.
Flight from Vishakapatnam to Jammu was booked two months well in advance for the travel on 19th and 20th Jan 2023 only to face nightmarish experience.
On reaching Visakhapatnam airport on 19th Jan 2023, My family with two daughters were told that the flight from Delhi to Jammu is not showing in the system. No prior intimation in whatsoever manner was given for the cancellation of flight by email, sms, telecall, whatsapp etc. Nothing did the airindia officials do to confirm booking from Delhi to Jammu nor did they give any assurance. Vizag officials told to reach Delhi and approach Airindia counter.
In Delhi people are so unapologetic, pathetic and irresponsible who said no flights are there and may accommodate in Delhi to Srinagar flight of all the flights.
Star Alliance is an absolute fake and worthless claims that the airlines TATA makes.
My family with two daughters had to wait the entire night in airport for confirmation of next flight as the staff had told to wait near the airindia counter.
My family had to mov to Srinagar in the freezing cold and return to home on own arrangements.
Similar journey flights were booked from Indigo airlines which had cancelled first by giving intimation on email, whatsapp, sms and voice call quoting operational reasons.

Caution from my experience to all passengers seeking airindia TATA.
beware o[censored]nintimated cancellations at last moments and with no support further. The the customer call numbers are not picked up purposefully where I had made numerous calls and the call was dropped without an answer, sometimes picked and dropped and sometimes kept a side,

I urge the highest official to looking into this matter and avoid delivering such painful experiences.

Food quality was absolutely cold, without salt and without flavour. Cheese spagaty and corn salad .

My transaction amount of Rs. 3896 on 11th of November with transaction ID [protected], has not been refunded. I have confirmed from my bank that you have received the money. As per promise it should have been refunded within 24 hours as the purpose of rescheduling the flight was not served with this transaction.
I had to do a repeat transaction for the same purpose on 12th November to get the job done.
I have written mails to customer care, they asked me for for following details
ticket number is 098-[protected]
Passenger name:- Poushaly Ghosh
Flight number:-AI-554
Origin and Destination:-Delhi to Chennai
Date of travel:-02 Jan 2023

which I submitted immediately, since there after they have stopped communication

My name : Amita Patel. Contact: [protected]
Email; [protected]@gmail.com
File references # JFKKU14175 - delay bag
Complaint details; I was traveling from BDQ to JFK on December 31st via Air India connecting flight. Air India raged incorrectly my baggage to JFK instead Delhi as I was traveling to Kuwait from Delhi airport. After arrived at Kuwait counter for chek in Kuwait staff notified that baggage should have collected at Delhi and they can not give me boarding pass till baggage arrives. After Kuwait personal contact Air India and retrieve 5 baggage out of 6, one bag left behind due to missing tags on bag it was removed by Air India.
Kuwait flight was waiting for us staff rushed us to flight with 5 bags and tell me to call Air India at your arrival destination and file complaint there.
I followed what I was asked to do, I called Air India number of times someone answer call when I tell them about my missing baggage I was informe to send them email. After I sent email I ask them to Update I was told to file complaint at arrival airport and provide them references number. I did that even airport 3 hours away from where I leave. After I aske update I was asked to call your departure airport where baggage was taken. I called there no one answered. Than third day I got called for Air India personal name Rajiv asking references number of my missing bag and send me picture of bag I have identified. He said he will get back to me with flight details when they send my bag. After that day I call them every day asking for updates either no one answer or if answer same information saying we’re working on it. Even I send them emails no setisfied answer from air lines they keep saying They have notified Kuwait airlines still not picked up my bag. My concern this mistake was made by Air India they should be responsible of sending my bag to me directly but they not taking responsibility or giving me setsfied answers. I tweet them keep same answers. It’s been 12 days now not getting my bag or proper answer.
I don’t come often to India even I born here due to this type of irresponsible attitude I always face. I had too much hassle at Delhi Airport with my little kids due to Air India’s stupid mistake.

I’m requesting take further action to air lines for this type of inconvenience we’re facing all the times.

Avinash Nikam

Attachments11:11 AM (2 minutes ago)
Dear Sir,
I undersigned travelled from Mumbai to Kochi on 17/04/2022 along with my wife, I lost my boarding pass after completing my tour. I have travelled on Govt LTC where I have to submit the boarding pass for reimbursement.
I request you please send me the duplicate boarding pass/ Travel certificate for the journey performed by me.
For the details of the journey, I am including a copy of my Air Ticket for you to take a look at.
1 Mr. AVINASH MOHAN NIKAM Adult NA Delivered[protected]A NA
2 Mrs. ASHWINI AVINASH NIKAM Adult NA Delivered[protected]B NA

Took the Air India flight from Kolkata to Sydney (Flight no AI 302).
BOOKING REFERENCE: TWBOU7

There was no in flight entertainment in all 3 seats we booked for myself, my daughter and husband. For a 12.5 hour flight this is highly unexpected and very unprofessional of the airline. Upon informing the flight attendants they just confirmed it won't work, no apology nothing.

Also I had booked for inflight menu where there are options to choose among cuisines. Air India doesn't provide any such options and I was said inflight means vegetarian meal. This was when they had served more than 1 meal to some customers and not even a single lunch to me till 5:15 PM IST which is way past lunch time.

Horrible experience in the airline and I strongly feel our flight fares should be refunded since they failed to comply with the basics in a long haul flight.

Firstly, I travelled with my father and sister from London to India. My daughter also joined us later. He is old, nearly 90 age. We booked direct flight to Kochi but Air India cancelled the return flight (more than once) and we had to fly via Mumbai, on a much longer journey. We booked Air India only for direct connection to Kochi. My seat was no longer available and I had to book new seats further back on plane. My booking reference is below. I am now seeking compensation - a part refund of return flight cost due to a difficult journey on busy flights. My father and sister and daughter are under separate bookings (PXFXXU and U21ZT7).
Secondly, I had problems with inflight tv system on outbound and return flights. My tv was not working and I could not watch anything on 9 hour flight. This was unacceptable. I was not offered any solution from Air India and suffered very long journey with nothing to do when other passengers were watching entertainment movies. I am seeking compensation from Air India for the inconvenience on both my long haul journeys. I am back in UK now. I tried to contact Air India but no response to compensation.
My name: Mary Verghese-Dipple
Air India flying club member number:[protected]
E ticket number:[protected]copy attached)
Booking ref: MG3YCN
Date: 7 December and 21 December - return flights.
Thank you

Me and my family booked ticket from vancover to ahmedabad and return ticket, but due to covid air india unbale to provide return service from ahmedabad to vancover so they are cancelled that ticket, so we travel from other airways, now air india not provide me refund for my cancel travel
so please provide me my cancelation ticket refund
further that all document i will provide you,
trawel date 24th april 2021

ref E- ticket number exchange ticket number passenger name

[protected] [protected] Makwana Aarya Jitendra Kumar
[protected] [protected] Makwana Gitaben Jitendrakumar
[protected] [protected] Makwana Jitendrakumar Dudhabhai
[protected] [protected] Makwana Pavitra Jitendrakumar
[protected] [protected] Makwana Uttara Jitendrakumar
[protected] [protected] Makwana Sati
[protected] [protected] Makwana Yajnesh

Ref: (1) E-TICKET NUMBER:[protected] DATE OF ISSUE: 23FEB21

(2) EXCHANGE TICKET:[protected] RLOC: AI HM5VL

(3) Passenger Names: (a) Mrs. Carol Pradeep
(b) Ms. Tiya Karina Pradeep
(c) Mr. Nash Rohan Pradeep

(4) Itinerary: LON-TRV-LON

The ticket was originally booked on 27.10.2019 for travel on 17.07.2020. However, all flights were canceled by Air India due corona and I could not travel on the above dates. I called air India office and the executive said they cannot re-book on any flight on a later date as the airline was uncertain about when they would be able to fly.

As per advice of your contact center executives, I called up again on 23.02.2021 and they re-booked me on AI 134 leaving LHR on 22.07.2021. However, this flight was also canceled by the Airline due to Corona. On calling Air India customer support, they asked me to call them later when flights resume as they were not in a position to re-book on any flight.

Accordingly I called the customer support on 01.12.2021 to re-book the flight for Aug 2022. I got through the customer support but they did not complete the booking nor called me back, even though I shared my contact details. I am pasting here the mail I wrote to Ms. Poonam, your customer care executive on 01.12.2021:

[protected][protected][protected][protected]
From: Carol
Sent: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 8:23:23 AM
To: Air India
Subject: Poonam at ticketing


Dear customer service,
Re:
Ticket no:
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]

These are my ticket numbers to be rescheduled. I was almost done but phone got cut off. Please ask Poonam to call me on [protected]

Reschedule dates were as follows: aug 2022
2 aug Lhr to BOM 21.30-10.15
BOM to TRV 17.20-19.40

Ret
29 aug 2022
Trv to del 21.10-12.30
Del to lhr 02.40-7.30

Please retrieve this booking
Thanks
Carol Pradeep

I got a response from Ms. Sana, customer care executive the same day, asking me to again contact the customer care phone number. Here is the mail I received:

[protected][protected][protected][protected][protected][protected]
From: Air India
Sent: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 10:50:23 AM
To: [protected]@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Fwd: Poonam at ticketing

Dear Pradeep,

Greetings from Air India.

It is our pleasure to help you with your query and apologize for the inconvenience caused.

With the reference to your email, we request you to kindly contact our Air India Customer care support for rescheduling your travel as we need verbal confirmation from passengers to make any changes in the booking.

We are providing you with our customer care number[protected].

For further queries feel free to contact us.

Thank you for contacting Air India.

Regards,
Sana
AI Contact Us Team

I tried to call Ms. Poonam on the number given but it kept disconnecting. Thereafter, I sent another mail to Ms. Sana requesting her/Ms. Poonam to call back and reschedule my flight but to no avail.

I called the customer service again after two days to learn that my ticket is no longer usable as it passed the validity period. I tried many times thereafter but the customer service was parroting the same lines. I was literally traumatized by then after going through the ordeal over two years and getting my $2700 locked with Air India, who treated me like a beggar.

I have been a regular traveler with Air India over decades and I never expected this treatment ever. I need my money refunded at the earliest and urge you, in the capacity of CEO of the airline, to take an ethical, moral and judicious decision on this matter.

Please revert should you need any further info.

Appreciate an early response from your end.

Thanks & regards,

Carol Pradeep

I, Sunil Jaisinghani along with my wife Lavina Jaisinghani were travelling on Air India flight no AI0643 from Mumbai to Udaipur. Both o[censored]s are a around 65 years old and we’re carrying cabin luggage. My wife was unable to put the cabin luggage in the hold and requested a flight steward a Sardar gentleman on the flight to help her put the luggage in the hold. The Sardar gentleman stood there like a statue and did not make the slightest effort to help her. I think this kind of behaviour is unpardonable and request that necessary action be taken against the Sikh flight steward.