After all the terrible things I had heard about Air India, I tried my darndest to avoid it. However, when my brother-in-law booked his family on Air India, we thought traveling with them would be easier, as we brought along our two little boys, ages 2 and 3. Also, the price for a family of 4 was significantly cheaper than any other airline. The 747 we boarded at LAX was a bit old and dingy, and in-flight entertainment was dismal at best - only tired projection screens, and poor video / audio quality. The only plus was that the flight was very light, so we had 3 rows of 4 seats to ourselves, and then some, which made sleep easier to come by. From Mumbai to Hyderabad, I was pleasantly surprised when we boarded a brand new Airbus. It was clean and crisp and very comfortable. Food was actually tasty, and I’m not sure I’ve had better food on another airline.

On the way back, the 747 was much nicer, with video screens on every seat back, and pretty decent movies, and again, very empty. All flights were pretty much on time.

The one thing that needs improvement is the horrible customer service of their staff in India. The rep at the LAX service desk was very friendly, and moved our seats around, without us asking, to make it convenient for us having 2 kids. In India, especially Hyderabad, no one smiled, and they looked at us like we were wasting their time with any question we asked. The in-flight service was good for the most part, except for a couple grumpy old women.

Our next time to India, we’ll choose another airline, but mostly because AI had too many stops. Other than that, our experience was mostly positive with AI.

No. of times flown on this Airlines:	Between 1 - 3
Class flown most frequently:	Economy Class