An Open Letter to the Chairman of Air-India and the Honorable Aviation Minister Mr. Prafulla Patel.

Dear Sirs,
I have held your airlines in the utmost respect. It is my country’s flagship airline and has been successful for a good part of the last few decades. I have always been angered when foreigners trash the airline for its service. In fact I was outraged when my company, one of the top banks in the US has officially banned any official travel via your airline. This was even more insulting when my company has identified India as the next prime target for market expansion.
This December I decided to travel by Air-India despite having other options just to get the experience that I could write about. What I got for this is the most shocking customer service experience of my life.
The ticket agent himself was courteous in checking in me and my wife and taking our luggage in. Upon boarding though, the nightmare began. The seats themselves were extremely dirty. The back of the seats before us that would face us were badly stained. Upon opening the food trays, we noticed they were stained by leftover food. I can understand that Air-India itself has only 9 air-craft that you have to re-use. But surely you can have disposable seat covers or replacement seat covers that can be replaced when the aircraft reaches India and then cleaned while the aircraft makes the trip across the seas. This on the face of it does not seem like a difficult option. There is no dearth of cheap manpower at India’s airport to replace the seat covers. This is the worst reputation that a flight company can have, that they have dirty air-craft that disgust even the local Indians.
The attending staff was very courteous on the Chicago – London leg of the flight. During the London – Mumbai leg however there was a terrible staff that ignored passengers, did not provide water and food when requested and in general was missing during most of the flight.
Upon landing, the customs documents were not provided by the flight staff on the aircraft. This led to a horrible dash of multiple passengers from multiple flights onto the immigration counters. These counters themselves were not well staffed or well managed to explain which documents belonged to returning Indians and which to passengers that had Indian Visas. After this, the checked-in luggage was missing for a good 2 hours. Bags from various Air-India flights were available in different baggage belts irrespective of what was displayed on the boards. Airport baggage handlers were harassing people for money all this while and also throwing bags off the belts.
All this is just unacceptable behavior of an international airline. I have traveled by the majority of American airlines as well as multiple Indian domestic airlines but never have I encountered this. Yes they all have flaws but none so damning.
I hope you look into this and rectify the flaws else no amount of new aircraft or cheaper seats will ever improve the standing of this once proud maharaja.

Thanks,
Chasing Satya