To Travel or Not to Travel on Air India Flights in 2025: Top 10 Compelling Reasons

Air India, which played a knight in shining armor several times for the countrymen stranded abroad during geopolitical conflicts and COVID-19, was struggling with an albatross (debts, losses, and threats of a shutdown) around its neck before the Tata Group welcomed the airline back home as the best-ever tribute to JRD Tata. Since its takeover by Ratan Tata, Air India has resurrected from its decades-long state of inertia, inefficiency, incompetence…to become “a world-class airline with an Indian heart” through its 5-year transformation plan, Vihaan.AI.

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Air India Lounges

Being a Tata brand, Air India is betting on hospitality to elevate passenger experience from the height of 40,000 feet to ground. The flagship Air India Maharaja lounges at New York JFK Airport and New Delhi IGI Airport are currently undergoing a large-scale renovation. Currently, Air India’s domestic lounge network covers 26 airports, including tier-II Lucknow, Madurai, Vadodara, Indore, Nagpur, Mangalore, Patna, and Srinagar airports.

Opened in early 2024, the Air India lounge at Bengaluru International Airport is wooing premium travelers with its regal décor, modern amenities, swanky furniture, and best-in class hospitality. The convenience of flying in premium travel classes with premium economy or business flight tickets to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai doubles over Air India’s lounging hospitality at those airports. Plush couches, cozy sofas, complimentary Wi-Fi, dedicated nap rooms with recliners, showers, fully-stocked mini bars…are some of the benefits at third-party airport lounges in Air India’s global network.

Air India’s Fleet Upgrade and Modernization

Fleet upgrade and modernization is at the center of Vihaan.AI – Air India’s 5-year transformation plan, which is halfway to repositioning the airline as a world-class carrier. Air India has inducted brand new A350-900 planes into international service as part of its multibillion-dollar fleet expansion project, alongside absorbing Vistara aircraft into its fleet after the merger. A350-900 planes with Premium Economy seats and luxurious business class suites tick all the boxes, from elevated inflight dining to redefined inflight entertainment – for premium travel experience that Indian Diaspora had been waiting for.

Air India’s game changer – A350-900s are operating nonstop flights to India from New York JFK, Newark EWR, and London Heathrow. The Tata airline is looking to roll out top-notch First Class suites on yet-to-be-delivered A350-1000s for select intercontinental routes with demand shooting up for premium travel.

Among Air India’s goals in 2025 is improving travel experience on domestic routes for domestic passengers and international passengers having domestic connections to/from the gateway airports – Mumbai and Delhi.’ Air India has retained the erstwhile Vistara A321neo aircraft with Premium Economy for flights to Singapore from Delhi and Mumbai.

Air India’s Fleet Retrofit Program

Vihaan.AI – Air India’s ongoing transformation from a laggard to a TATA brand, will see completion of the US$ 400-million retrofit project by mid-2025. As many as 27 A320neo planes in the A320 fleet family of narrowbody aircraft that Air India describes as ‘a backbone of its domestic and short-haul international operations’ are upgraded with new cushy seats, carpets, upholstery, and amenities to turn around the airline for 80 to 85% of its total passengers on metro to metro and non-metro routes.

The retrofitted aircraft in Air India’s fleet will up the game with contemporary interiors and passenger-friendly upgrades such as USB chargers, portable electronic device holders, and Wi-Fi. The single-aisle fleet will progressively feature a three-class configuration: economy, premium economy, and business. Also, 40 Boeing 787 aircraft in Air India’s widebody fleet will be refurbished and retrofitted starting this year, under the same modernization program, to deliver a whole new flying experience, according to Nipun Aggarwal, Air India’s Chief Commercial Officer.

Maharaja Club: Air India’s Frequent Flyer Loyalty Program

One of the advantages of flying with Air India in 2025 is the opportunity to earn award flights, extra check-in baggage allowance, complimentary cabin upgrades and lounge access. After two years of its takeover by Ratan Tata, Air India launched the Maharaja Club, a unique frequent flyer loyalty program with a myriad of benefits and privileges. You can earn Maharaja points not only for booking Air India flight tickets but also for traveling with its Star Alliance partners, including Lufthansa, United Airlines, Air Canada, SWISS Air, Turkish Airlines, and Singapore Airlines.

Interestingly, Air India’s Maharaja Club lets you create a family pool of loyalty rewards earned by your family members by linking their Maharaja Club accounts. Whenever the family members fly with Air India or any of the Star Alliance partners and spend with Air India’s non-airline partners (hotels, restaurants, brand stores, etc.), their Maharaja points get accumulated in the family pool. As the family head, you can specify what percentage of their reward points would be added to the family pool. Your spouse, children, parents, siblings, and in-laws can join the family pool, but the strength should not exceed nine members including you.

You can redeem your own Maharaja points or the points collected in the family pool to book award flights to Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, or Dubai in either of the two categories: Value Fare and Prime Fare. With Prime Fare, you can redeem points to book your travel during peak seasons or flight deals for last-minute travel. If reward points in your Maharaja Club account with Air India fall short of an award flight or a cabin upgrade, you can top up the account balance by buying points.

New Air India Hub in South India 

Taking the cue from the success of its nonstop flights to Bengaluru from USA and London, Air India is setting up a hub at Kempegowda BLR Airport for the vast South Indian Diaspora in the West. Central to Air India’s long-haul network expansion plans, the new Bangalore hub will streamline international departures and arrivals through Kempegowda Airport for any part of South India. Additionally, the upcoming Air India hub at BLR Airport would help open more international routes from south Indian cities.

Air India’s primary hub, New Delhi Airport, for most nonstop flights to India from USA and other countries has overgrown its capacity. The South Indian Diaspora connecting to their destinations via New Delhi has been vocal about inconvenient transit at Indira Gandhi Airport, especially during winters when dense fog causes flight delays and cancellations. Undoubtedly, setting up its second hub away from north India marks a watershed moment in Air India’s transformation as a most passenger-friendly airline.

Upgrade Plus: Air India’s Cabin Upgrade System for Economy Flyers

In the first year of its transformation journey, Air India introduced Upgrade +, an easy-to-use cabin upgrade system for economy travelers to fly in a premium class. Those, who are not Air India’s Maharaja Club members, can make the most of this program to upgrade their travel from economy to premium economy or business class for a little extra fare. Unlike the Maharaja Club, Air India’s Upgrade Plus facility is exclusive to flying with Air India, not any Star Alliance member airline. Check out Indian Eagle Travel’s guide on how to use Upgrade + for premium class travel on Air India.

Check-in Baggage Tracking on Air India Flights

Among the perks of flying with Air India in 2025 is end-to-end tracking of your checked bags in real time. Integrated to Air India’s website and mobile app, the luggage tracking feature provides real-time updates on your checked baggage from departure to arrival. It cover key touchpoints – check-in, security clearance, aircraft loading, transfer, and arrival – through your international journey with Air India. Read on to know how to use Air India’s checked baggage tracker for your peace of mind.

Air India’s Vision 2025 and Service Standards

Driven by CEO Campbell Wilson’s Vision 2025, Air India is committed to and focused on elevating its service standards, alongside the fleet upgrade and aircraft retrofit project in progress. There are some reports of travelers unhappy with the airline’s inflight service etiquette despite tangible improvements in onboard dining, seating, and inflight entertainment content on certain routes.

“2025 will see progress on many key initiatives, such as…elevating Air India’s service standards, raising the bar on what we consider ‘good’, and more consistently delivering to those new expectations. We will also strengthen and tighten our practices and processes so that we are not just consistent, we are also efficient and, ultimately, profitable,” said CEO Campbell Wilson in a company newsletter to the employees and stakeholders.

Wi-Fi on Air India Flights

Wi-Fi on select Air India flights operated by A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s lets you fly connected even above the clouds. Air India became the first Indian airline to introduce inflight Wi-Fi on domestic and short-haul international flights operated by A321neo planes. Air India’s Vision 2025 of customer service standards encompasses plans to roll out Wi-Fi across its network from America to Australia progressively. Inflight Wi-Fi is also part of the Tata airline’s $400-million aircraft refurbishment project (elaborated above). The travelers who got the best fare deals from IndianEagle.com, a leading air-ticketing partner of Air India, for their winter holiday trips to India from New York and Newark are all praise of seamless Wi-Fi service on board.

16 thoughts on “To Travel or Not to Travel on Air India Flights in 2025: Top 10 Compelling Reasons

  1. Mody Jacob

    I used to travel using Air-India for several years. Couple of major issues I noticed as a frequent traveler
    1. Out dated airlines
    2 . Bad attitude if the flight attendants – they consider Indian originals as second class citizens.

    Reply
    • indianeagle Post author

      Hi Shubhangi! Thank you reading us! We’re wondering what more information you are requesting.

      Reply
  2. Mohinder Singh Khangura

    Recently our Frequent travels to Melbourne from Delhi & back have a very bad experience even in Business Class. Planes still old , seats not worthy of Business class , routine long delays/late but staff very cooperative & hospitable. Flights AI 308 & AI 309

    Reply
  3. Chandu

    I have faces missing, delayed and completely wet baggages when I travelled in 2023 couple of times.

    Reply
    • indianeagle Post author

      Hi Chandu! Air India is a new Air India in 2025 leaving no stone unturned to turn around itself and elevate passengers’ travel experience.

      Reply
  4. Shahida mir

    This time I traveled from India to NY in business class and I could feel the difference.
    I am happy it was way better than my last experience in July 23 when I traveled both
    ways from India to NY.I would rather say more needs to be done but AI is on right
    path.

    Reply
    • indianeagle Post author

      Hi Shahida! Thank you for sharing your flying experience with Air India here. Hope you flew in the business class of Air India’s A350-900 aircraft.

      Reply
  5. Indira Madapati

    Would like to know if there’s any luggage restrictions added other than 2 piece 50 lb for AI passenger ..for 2025 ?
    Traveled multiple times in the past by AI – love to see more estheticallly appealing n clean
    I never use restrooms anyway for my 18 hr if I can !
    So restroom hygiene also pl keep in mind for improvision

    Unable to join Magaraja club
    Email says it’s registered by name n dob
    But never able to change OD or password coz no emails received!

    Reply
    • indianeagle Post author

      Hi Indira! It is recommended that you contact the customer helpline of Air India for your Maharaja Club registration confirmation.

      Reply
  6. TIRUMALESH KOWDLAY

    Air India has a long way to go, TATA branding, marketing alone cannot change our mind to flock over to Air India.

    The updates to the equipment, interior for Business Class, Premier is not innovative rather adapting which middle easter Airlines have been providing for a while.

    Inefficiency of the staff without reliability is still a concern.

    Our family friends have experienced the pain traveling with Air India even recently.

    Hope Air India will really step up, incorporate efficiency, consistently be predictable, have competent professional staff.

    Reply
  7. Vijaya Jammalamadaka

    I PAID FOR AI STAFF MISTAKE! I traveled on the non-stop flight SFO to Delhi in February 2024. I had a very bad experience with the Air India customer service regarding ticketing. My ticket from SFO was cancelled and I was not notified. Air India admitted they made a mistake and apologized but I had to spend the night at a hotel near SFO at my own expense because I was traveling from my home city using United AL (so much for the Star Alliance!). It was very time consuming to straighten out my cancelled ticket which I found out about only when I checked in at my home airport. Phew! never again Air India. Goodbye.

    Reply
    • indianeagle Post author

      Hi Sree! Since 15 November 2024, Air India has been operating the DC to Delhi route with Boeing 777-200LRs, replacing the outdated B787-8 aircraft.

      Reply
      • Neelam

        Completely FALSE STATEMENT. I just traveled with AI on January 11th and back on January 21st. Heavy duty tape used to fix broken arm rests, and EVERYTHING that is broken. Tvs not working, usb portal is just a hole. Back of the plane smelled like pee. Anyone who is defending AI, needs to take trip in economy class especially in the back of plane. I’m planning send email to Washington post and news outlets to run a story on this issue.

        Reply
  8. Vrinda

    So much for the hype. My mom just flew AI del-iad after “new planes” had supposedly been introduced Dec 2024. Her experience was very similar to Neelam’s. She said no entertainment, taped seats, no reading lights and gross meals. They lost her bag and there were no updates from customer service. We had to use a personal connection to track down the bag. We ended up canceling her return flight on AI. She swore she will never fly AI again.

    Reply

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