The Cursed Airline

teacherabc's Full Review: Air India
I wanted to share my opinions about Air India to my friends, and I do not want anyone else to go through this pain. So, I cut and pasted my email to my friends here:

Hi All,

I thought you would all enjoy a good laugh this Monday morning, unfortunately at our expense, but, now that it is over, we can look back and laugh. Read if you have 10 minutes to spare.
We planned a trip to Europe this summer, saving all our many pennies from our huge salaries (you know how wealthy teachers are) and decided to go to France and Italy from July 5th-14th. Being the savvy consumer I am, I searched for flights for months and found one out of Newark for considerably cheaper than other airlines. Yes, we do not live in NJ, but, Newark is just a short drive away. Plus I had some vouchers for rental cars.

So, last Thursday our trip began. We drove up to Newark, arriving 4 hours before our plane departed. Our airline was Air India. It would fly us from Newark to Charles De Gaulle, and then go on to Mumbai. We got to the desk, and they informed us that the flight was overbooked, but, they were putting us on a Continental flight which left a bit earlier. We were happy. We had both been nervous because we get motion sickness, and we heard that Indian food is served on the plane, which we had never had and we worried it would upset our stomachs.

So, we fly to France on Continental, having a 3 person row to ourselves. Everything goes great, except when a stewardess opens the overhead compartment and a huge metal can of Jean Paul Gaultlier perfume falls on my nose. I survived, but it hurt. Anyway, we got to France, had a wonderful time. Went to all the typical sites in Paris, and drove out to Normandy to see the battlefields.

Anyway, we flew to Italy. Had a great time in Rome. Stayed right near the Vatican, ate gelato every day, saw all the typical sites. We stopped by Milan on the way back to Paris, saw the Last Supper, had an ok time since Milan is a little weird (another story). We flew back to Paris, to Beauvais, a town outside of Paris. The day of our flight, we caught a shuttle from Beauvais to Paris and then a train to CDG. It took us close to 5 hours to get to CDG. Once we got there, we navigated the airport (which sucks may I say) and found obscure little Air India, with no regular desk. We stand in line to checkin and everything is going fine until this family starts screaming and crying in French. Apparently, Air India overbooked the flight again and we cannot get on. Plus, there are no more flights to Newark tonight. So, when we finally get up to the desk, I ask to be flied to anywhere on the East Coast, from Richmond to New York. We are offered a plane to London and then a connection to Newark from there. Plus, a free lunch and refund of our flight. We have to hang out in the airport for 4 hours, but, at least we are going home.
Great, so, we get on an Air France flight to London which leaves at 7pm. Of course, the plane gets delayed by 10 mins, and then we circle Heathrow for 15 mins because of traffic. We arrive at 7:15pm (England is one hour earlier) and run across the terminal, onto a bus, through security, and finally to the place where we are supposed to check in. The time is 7:45pm. The plane leaves at 8:30pm. We are denied boarding because we are not there 1 hour ahead. I cry and they tell us "sorry, you needed to be here earlier." So, we head over to stupid Air India, with this guy who thinks he is a comedian, but alas, that is another story. He gets us a hotel in London (very swank) but cannot get us our bags. We have a flight scheduled for 4pm Sunday the 15th from London to Newark. We go to our hotel with nothing but the clothes on our back, our flight info, our passports, our video camera, regular camera, etc. We have no toiletries, no contact solution, no new clothes, nada. We are staying at this beautiful hotel, but we are like total dirtballs. We have to buy toothpaste and toothbrushes and deoderant from a Petrol (gas) station. We sleep in towels.

Next day, we head back to the airport. We are there 5 hours ahead. My husband can't see because we did not have contact solution and his glasses were packed. I have my glasses on, but they are a weak prescription. It is like the blind leading the blind. We are booked on Virgin Atlantic and we are promised that our bags are on this plane. When we arrive at the gate however, the luggage man says no, our bags did not make it. We cannot get them now, sorry, they will be mailed. So, we are getting on this plane with no clothes, souvenirs, guide books (from the library), medicine, shoes, etc. Our flight was nice, but delayed, arriving in Newark at 7pm (12 midnight London time). We arrive in the airport, staring at the baggage claim area where all the happy people are picking up their bags. We are informed that we will receive our bags in a few weeks by an airline rep. We walk through customs and immigration, and are repeatedly asked where our bags are. Nope, no bags. Big European vacation, and all I have to show for it are some plastic spoons I bought in France. We stop by the Air India desk again, once we find it since it is hidden (wonder why), and are informed that we will be mailed our refund. I make the lady make copies of all of our documentation, even though she promises they will make good on this whole situation. Sure, and you promised me a flight too.

So, we pick up our rental car and drive back home, arriving here at 1pm (6am London time). We have to stop several times because I could hardly see and my eyeballs were throbbing.

We are planning a protest at the nearest Air India checkin counter soon. Please let me know if you would like to join.

Take care, and remember, friends don't let friends fly Air India.

Reference: source