I am not overly enthusiastic about Air India. I fly them about once a year just to make sure they are still as terrible as they always have been, and they never disappoint. I know many Indians who would never fly Air India if they had another choice. Their on-time record is pretty bad, and their planes tend to be old. Their service standards cannot begin to compare with other Asian airlines (but are not appreciably worse than US airlines). I don’t think their safety record is any better or worse than others; although the most recent air crash in India was an Air India flight (but that was a few years ago). Air India is generally cheaper than other airlines, but you will get what you pay for.

United/Continental also has a non-stop to Delhi from EWR which IMO would be a much better choice. Jet Airways has service from EWR to Delhi via Brussels. Kingfisher has service from London, so if you can get a good flight to and from the UK, that may work. Both are excellent local carriers. Also, you may want to fly in or out of other cites which may work better for your itin. It usually makes more sense to fly into one Indian city and out of another, given the size of the country. Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai all have fairly good international flight service, via London or Amsterdam or Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong. Flying into or out of Varanasi and Bangkok can often be a good option. Dubai may also work as a transit point. It is not at all necessary, and usually involves some backtracking, to fly into and out of Delhi. So don't let the non-stops fool you.

I haven't flown Air India in 3 years, but I remember the flight as being the worst I have ever been on in 30 years. The plane including the tray tables were disgustingly dirty and the service was poor-not that I wanted to eat anything after seeing how filthy the plane was. Maybe they have improved since then. i certainly hope so.

they generally are considered pretty low on the T pole...

A few passengers comments here. They dont rate that highly:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_india.htm

Thank you - for your honesty!

Air India is state owned and like everything in that country - state owned comes with it own set of problems - their cleanliness, punctuality and on-board service are generally bad - you may find a few exceptions here or there but mostly are below average.

Off late they have begun inducting new flights on key international routes but then a new aeroplane is not everything.

If you can help it try and use either Emirates or Singapore as they have most number of flights by a foreign carrier into India. You can even try Jet Airways and/or Kingfisher but that will mean transiting through Brussels or London. If you choose to fly locally Jet Airways, Kingfishers, SpiceJet, Indigo & Go-Air are good private options.

Some of the "Air India" flights are codeshares with other airlines, e.g. American. See if that might be the case wityh your NY to DEL flight.

"Air India is state owned and like everything in that country - state owned comes with it own set of problems - their cleanliness, punctuality and on-board service are generally bad - you may find a few exceptions here or there but mostly are below average."

That statement applies to everything in the country, not just state owned operations.

As someone who has stayed in India for quite a significant number of years in the past, I beg to differ. With regards to airlines, private airlines like Kingfisher, Jet Airways, Indigo & Spicejet operate domestic flights which are new, clean, efficient & punctual complemented with an excellent service.

In fact Kingfisher Airlines is one of the seven airlines in the world to be ranked as a 5-star airline by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax so I guess we need to give them due credit for that, but then you must have your reasons for your remark.

As someone who has worked in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industry during my time in India, I second "innocentspirit"s opinion.

Their private airline operators are comparable with similar carriers of the west & across the globe.

Their national carriers are another story altogether and bring a lot of bad name and reputation to the industry due to their indifferent attitude and political meddling.

For me arrogant incompetent staff unclean smelly cabins

not great security procedures cautions pretty unsafe

if you check accedint history found on Wikipedia.

typical of government owned carriers losing market share.

Pretty much carrier of last resort for me in that area.

www.insuremytrip.com always wise.

When I flew Air India from Varanasi to Agra in February 2013 they took us to Khajuraho instead. Yes, they provided a bus for the 500km bus trip to Agra. And the bus did get to Agra at 5:30am, not the 5:00pm flight schedule. A big fleet...could they not have provided a plane to get us to Delhi or back to Varanasi? No! Anything wrong with the plane we flew in..No! Take the bus.
Never fly Air India.

If you're already in the NY area, you can fly non-stop from Newark to Delhi on United/Continental.

Air India flights are less expensive and attract the families with a bunch of kids. Last time on Air India from the US felt like I was traveling with a daycare center. I haven't flown them again.

All I can say is, probably no SENSIBLE Indian likes to fly Air India, so AVOID!!!

Dont do it. Their track record with regards to strikes is abysmal. like bombayteddy said, no sensible Indian will fly Air India.

i think there was a recent report on the ny flt that said there were no tv's

Wear a mint-infused gas mask on the flight.

I haven't actually done it so this may be unfair, but a friend said it was like flying in a huge Indian restaurant. Make what you will of that.

I was willing to look past everything and pay them my hard earned money for two business class tickets. There were a few to many snafus on just getting the tickets booked that the reservation never went through. That spooked us enough to run far away. We are now booked on Qatar Airway from JFK-DEL and the business class prices were surprisingly competitive with AI. These two airlines are worlds apart with each setting the standard on opposite ends of the spectrum.

fyi Qatar Airway. When we took it to Kathmandu, they boarded the plane very, very early. On both legs, they had to find us in the terminal lounge for boarding. We were the last ones on the plane and it was more than 45 minutes before the announced boarding.

"any opinions on flying Air India???"

Yes. Bring a parachute.

I personally don't prefer Air India as the flights are old and also the airlines stands in the top most dangerous airlines in the world.