Is It True? Why Air India Has Become Hell for Passengers
Passengers on Air India’s San Francisco flights from Delhi and Mumbai faced significant delays. Air India is the biggest carrier for non-stop India-US routes, with its largest presence in San Francisco. The airline offers four flights a week from Mumbai, three from Bengaluru, and eleven from Delhi, totaling 18 weekly departures, the most among the five US airports it serves non-stop. San Francisco is often discussed due to frequent delays. Issues have included diversions to Russia and delays of 15-20 hours, with downgrades from premium economy to economy. Social media is full of complaints about these flights.
A check on FlightRadar24 shows none of Air India’s San Francisco flights have been on time for a week, with frequent delays and occasional cancellations.
Airlines aim for quick departures, and the ground team avoids deplaning passengers unless necessary, like for medical reasons, as seen in social media reports. Deplaning can cause longer delays. Once the engineering team identifies and estimates the time needed to fix a fault, the next steps are taken.
For ultra-long-haul flights like those to San Francisco, two sets of crew are used. Flight Duty Time Limitations mean a few hours’ delay could require a crew change.
Providing last-minute accommodation and transferring over 200 passengers is challenging, needing security and immigration clearance.
Overall, either coordination fails or there’s a significant delay in identifying and fixing the issue. While operationally logical, it’s a nightmare for passengers and those handling them.
Photos of passengers sitting on the ground in the aerobridge area raise questions about handling irregular operations (IRROPS). Can the airline improve? Are airport operations teams equipped to make immediate decisions for passenger handling?
Passengers can do little. For those with connecting flights in the US or India, it’s best to book on the same PNR with Air India or partner airlines. This ensures the airline handles delays by rebooking. While delays are not ideal, losing money for a missed independent flight is worse.
Air India changed ownership from the government to the Tata group in 2022. While it inherited poorly maintained cabins, the new owners must establish procedures for passenger care.
San Francisco faces special challenges. The airline uses its own and former Delta B777-200LRs, which have limited ground time and peak utilization cycles. Delays have little recovery time. The long distance makes swapping planes difficult. Some legacy planes lack premium economy cabins, so swaps mean downgrades for passengers booked in that class. This highlights the need for strong procedures.
As Air India rebrands, expands, and updates its products, such delays make passengers question choosing the airline. Non-stops to the USA attract many passengers, especially seniors, due to the lack of connecting airport navigation. Currently, Air India benefits from limited competition, but that might change.
