Dodgykeeps

Anyone flown this route before?
My missus and our 2 kids are going back to the UK for a month in June and this seems like the most economical way of getting them back.
But is it a case of you get what you pay for?

Cheers

Paul

pejpm1

my gf is a usc and her parents flew air india back to chicago from london when they came to visit us last year...they said it was fine, although the food served is indian food...not sure I'd want a curry on an 8 hour flight...

Manc

I don't know what aircraft they use on this route now....


I've heard the new 777's of Air India are very nice.

They're 747's are getting on in age and might leave a lot to be desired.

lapin_windstar

My SO used them a couple of times. The planes were a bit shagged out (but not dangerous or anything - so just like AA in other words), but she said the food was the best she'd ever had on a plane. Check in in good time - everyone's got some wacky visa and has sixteen suitcases. It's terminal 2 or 3 in London - one of the really tired ones.

What's the price difference? If it's $5 each extra for Virgin Atlantic, I'd go VA. If it's $100 each, I'd stick with it.

Dodgykeeps

For the three of them, the saving is going to be about $1000!

elfman

In my experience, yes. I used that route in June 2006 to go back for a funeral at short notice. The plane (747) wasn’t desperately clean and was coming apart at the seams in some parts of the cabin. And the cabin service was poor. BUT it cost me almost $450 less than the cheapest practical alternative I could find, so I wasn’t complaining (although I overheard several other passengers say there were going to). Other stuff to bear in mind is that JFK isn’t the nicest airport in the developed world and in my experience traffic to and from there is always awful.

Manc

I have no idea why you started this thread.
book the bloody tickets.

Dodgykeeps

I'd heard a few bad things about Air India, although it was more actually travelling to India. Also, as I'm not going I didn't want to inflict anything too bad on my family.

Sounds like I'll be booking some flights today!

lapin_windstar

How bad would it actually have to be before I'd pay a $1000 premium to go with someone else? I'd fly in a cargo plane standing up for that money.

Ray

Going back many year.. bangladesh air was the very worst
I think lunch was cooked in the aisles on an open pit and
half the passengers went back on the same flight..

It was an ex TWA plane and terrified everyone at Heathrow..

Dodgykeeps

There were other options - like flying Aer Fungus to Dublin and then catching a Ryanair flight over (yes, and I was worried about Air India!!) which wouldn't have been about $500 more - the $1000 was when compared with Virgin.

If you have to put up with my 5 year old son on an 8 hour flight, you'd want the flight to be fairly reasonable as well!

weazie

I flew this LHR to Chicago O'Hare air india and it was fine. the films are in urdu which can get kinda boring (unless you understand urdu). The curry was good.

flying toronto to Birningham International (on the way to Dubai) is a different matter entirely.Sniffer dogs, full carry-on luggage checks, ... horrible!

frrussre

Two different friends of ours, on 2 diff trips flew to France on Air India, both said, people were smoking everwhere on the plane & worst flight ever. That was 5 or so years ago.
I would not bother, thats just me. We have Indian friends, they fly BA, Virgin or AA.
Reg. Frank R.

latempleton

.... then you obviously don't have kids!!! This is a great question from anyone flying on their own with young children on a airline you haven't used before!

I won't even fly BA back to the UK now with their seating policy and problems I have had travelling with young kids (they kept spliting us all up even though we paid extra for premium economy so my 3 year old was sitting on his own!). It makes a huge difference not just to the parents but to every passenger on the plane to make sure the kids are happy!

stllurnin48

We flew this about a year ago, and it was fine. Plane was a bit ropey (747) but the wings stayed on, etc!

In fact we found it great as we didn't have to queue for hours as with other airlines.Flying back the plane was empty which is unheard of! About 20 or 30 of us on board a 747......... loads of room to kip!