An author and a startup company's Vice President experienced such a trip from Bengaluru to Pune with Air India that he vowed to "never flying" with the airline again in his lifetime.
Aditya Kondawar, Vice President of a startup called 'Complete Circle' took to X to share his "valuable lesson" that he learnt from Air India, thanking the airline for the same.
"Never and I mean it with all seriousness -- I am never flying Air India Express or Air India in my life again -- I will pay 100% extra cost if needed but will take other airlines that are on time (only 2 other airline options anyways)," Kondawar said, adding that he would rather take a bullock cart.
Narrating his ordeal, the author from Pune said, that firstly the flight (IX 974 BLR to Pune) -- scheduled for 9:50 pm -- took off only at around 12:15-12:20 am and on top of this, it was stinking.
He said that the odor was bad, the seats were very dirty and full of stains in the Air India Express flight to Pune. Kondawar said that he walked through a large factory and sat through multiple management interactions and then got to home at 3 am.
"I have immense respect for the Tata group and their leaders - I expect perfection from them always and this is a disaster honestly speaking!" Kondawar added.
In response to his post, Air India Express apologised for the inconvenience caused due to the disruption. "Please note that the incoming flight was delayed due to reasons beyond our control. We will look into the issue raised regarding your aircraft experience and will fix it immediately," the airline said.
Kondawar responded back to Air India X, saying that they won't fix the issue. "I am sure you guys will keep losing many customers if you keep this up," he said.
The startup VP said that the Air India Express' aircraft cleanliness was worse than that of a Mumbai local.
The airline then again responded to Kondawar's remark and said, "We never want our guests to have such an experience, Aditya. Rest assured, we have noted your feedback and will look into it."
Air India Express requested Kondawar to consider this as an "isolated incident" and give them a chance to serve him better in the future.
Kondawar's post also triggered a slew of reactions from other users. One of them said, "They won't mend ways. It has become worse after take over. Earlier, it was only making losses. Now the service level has become pathetic."
What was notable that under Kondawar's post several other passengers had also commented about their experience with the airline and it responded to several of these grievances.
One of the users mentioned his "worst vacation start" with Air India in May this year. He talked about the delay and mismanagement in the Hyderabad to Delhi flight, to which Air India responded and asked the user to provide them the booking details, so that the issue can be looked into.
Another user, Vishal, said that it his was even worse as his flight to Goa was delayed by over four hours and then was isolated for another three hours after a bag was found on the back seat. He said that the baggage clearance also took up more than an hour, adding that an entire day was wasted.
Air India Express responded to Vishal, saying that they understand the disappointment caused due to the inconveniences, asking him to send the booking details.
Two other X users also posted about their 'horrible' experiences, both of which Air India Express responded to and said that such kind of experiences are not something the airline wants its customers to go through.
