A video showing a passenger’s poor first-class experience on an Air India flight has gone viral and resulted in the man receiving a full refund.
Ripped, stained, dirty and infested
The one-and-a-half minute clip, posted on social media platform Tiktok on 17 September, shows entrepreneur Anip Patel’s first-class cabin accommodation on an Air India Chicago to Delhi flight. The footage features seats that were ripped, stained cabin furnishings and peeling veneer, and the floor was so dirty, the passenger described it as “gross”.
“There was hair in there and things moving,” he says.
While the pyjamas provided were “soft” and the toiletries “decent”, the state of the in-flight entertainment was so bad, with mouldy pre-used headphones and no wifi, despite multiple attempts by cabin crew to make it work, that Patel became an involuntary rawdogger, he said, enduring the 15-hour flight without any distractions, apart from the food.
The menu at first looked “promising”, according to Patel’s commentary, but turned out to be mostly unavailable. Nuts arrived uncovered, the samosas were “average” but the soup, he said, was delicious and was the best thing about the supposedly first-class flight.
@mondayswithmohan By far the worst airline I've ever ever flown in my life. #airindia #india #chicago #flights ♬ original sound – Mondayswithmohan
All-in-all, the cost of the ticket was $6,300, for which Air India has already reimbursed Patel, despite him not formally requesting it. “I did not file any complaint with Air India but through social media they saw this video – they called me today and refunded my entire flight they did make it right and it’s worth noting,” he wrote online.
Air India announces refurb
On the same day as Patel’s video went online attracting millions of views, Air India announced a makeover of their older aircraft – a refurbishment on which the carrier will be keen to try to focus attention. Top of the list to be refreshed are 27 legacy Airbus A320neos and 40 widebody Boeing aircraft that will be fitted out with new seats, upholstery, carpets, and curtains.
The airline, which has seen rocky financial times, announced multi-million dollar reforms, including a push to buy 470 new aircraft and a new look announced in 2023, in an overhaul that Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said at the time was aimed at bringing the fleet up to “an acceptable level”.
Whether that will come quick enough for the airline’s first-class ticket holders, and whether the soup, pyjamas and toiletries will be enough to placate them, remains to be seen.
