Air India Set To Join Star Alliance By July

[sealalula]

Delayed by over two years, the state-owned carrier Air India is set to join the global airlines’ grouping Star Alliance by July, said top airline sources

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ai...y-july/787766/

[9V-JKL]

July what year?

[sealalula]

July what year?

Of course this year !

[Kyo]

Uh-oh!

Well, I guess at least exploring the Indian subcontinent looks more possible now for me...

[coffeeblack]

How much cheaper is AI compared to the other airlines? So much cheaper that one can fly business/first on SQ Y fares?

[MAN Flyer]

Air India are joining *A, great stuff......

[demue]

Air India are joining *A, great stuff......

I'm going out on a limb here and will assume that this is a somewhat sarcastic comment no?

I'm outmost excited too of the prospect of tons of AI *Gs chocking up lounges and arguing with SQ or LH lounge staff why a family of 8 people can't all access a lounge on one *G card

flying with them ... wow that would take a lot for me (like knocking me out with a sedative like they did with B.A. Baracus on the A-Team series )

[scooby5]

Is this before or after their pilots call of their strikes.

How much cheaper is AI compared to the other airlines? So much cheaper that one can fly business/first on SQ Y fares?

Actually, very close..... I flew AI Business (no First on a 737) for only a few dollars more than SQ Economy to/from Mumbai and Calcutta and it was the right choice for sure. Timing was also much better and I saved one night extra in a hotel. You all might scoff but service was okay, food was pretty good and they were exceptionally helpful at Mumbai when I had a VERY tight 2hr Dom-Int connection time.

[Gunners]

I wond if Star Alliance intends to close down their Mumbai lounge and move everyone to the Air India Maharaja Business Lounge. Now that would be scary.

[Gunners]

Does it mean that Jet Airways will join Scary Team with Kingfisher joining Oneworld?

[Ronny]

flying with them ... wow that would take a lot for me (like knocking me out with a sedative like they did with B.A. Baracus on the A-Team series )

Fleet that bad, eh?

[pavion]

Is this before or after their pilots call of their strikes.





Actually, very close..... I flew AI Business (no First on a 737) for only a few dollars more than SQ Economy to/from Mumbai and Calcutta and it was the right choice for sure. Timing was also much better and I saved one night extra in a hotel. You all might scoff but service was okay, food was pretty good and they were exceptionally helpful at Mumbai when I had a VERY tight 2hr Dom-Int connection time.

Yup agree with that, the only weakness of AI is that the hardware is not there, so they cant provide the service, but everything else from my one time experience is alright

[jhm]

AI ? I still remember the following review which I came across:

http://www.epinions.com/review/trvl-...t_101914545796

People always throw up on AI. Most airlines will clean it. Air India (Happened all 3 times) does not even mop. They put newspaper OVER the vomit. The flight attendants seem content to do this, and they move their food carts over the newspaper/vomit, and people walk right over it. It smells so bad during the entire flight. This WILL happen to you.
[...]
The lavatories are always wet...walls, counters, mirrors. Yuck. Air India also does not carry much toilet paper, and it runs out halfway through the first leg of the flight. I take my own napkins to use.

I don't know if these are exaggerations (!) but I don't intend to find out.

[Gunners]

I have only experienced local AI flights and they have been fine and generally run on time. Problems generally arise when something unexpected happens which is not in the normal operating manual. Like leaving PAX in a terminal with no food and drink for hours on hand on the odd occasion that planes are delayed in the regional ariport.

I hope that *A does not close it lounges in India and revert to the Indian carriers lounges.

Gunners

[flying.monkeyz]

Alliance watchers will soon know whether or not Air India will finally join the Star Alliance.

Four years have now passed since Star Alliance first mooted Air India as a prospective member. Full membership was supposed to have become a reality by last year but the issue has been dogged by delays with Air India meeting the alliance’s standards. And now Star seems to be running out of patience with India’s national airline.

According to respected industry publication Aviation Week, Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht has told Air India that it has until July 31 to meet the requirements for membership or else the invitation will be withdrawn. Says Albrecht, “The process for Air India to fulfil its requirements has now taken nearly four years. We will not extend this deadline anymore. One day there must be a final point.”

Air India resumed flights on Monday following a 10-day strike by some of its pilots when over 1,000 flights had to be cancelled, costing the carrier an estimated US$3.3 million (see online news May 8).

Whether or not Air India will be able to meet the July 31 deadline is a moot point. But it has modernised its fleet and updated its product and image in recent times. It has also done a lot of work in IT linkages with domestic carrier Indian Airlines.

Star’s Jaan Albrecht is hopeful that Air India will meet the deadline, “Acquiring membership is a complex process,” he told Aviation Week. “By the end of July we will have a clear vision of where Star and Air India stand.”

http://www.businesstraveller.com/new...ly-31-deadline