Anybody flown JFK-BOM or DEL-JFK on Air India recently? What was your experience?

I have no first hand experience, only have read about their poor reputation.
This is a site where actual users of Air India have posted their experience:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/air_india.htm
I hope this helps.

If you're already near JFK, I would suggest Continental. I fly the non-stop from Newark to Delhi (coach) and don't have any gripes. Departure times are pretty much on-time, food is ok for the Hindu Vegetarian option (this is an airline afterall) and the best part for me is that the flight arrives in Delhi around 9pm and I can catch the overnight train to my destination.

Also, they return flight departs around 11:30pm from Delhi so you're not hanging around the airport tired until 2 or 3am when most of the other airlines depart.

The only reason I'm reluctant to fly on Air India is their prices are cheap so they are super booked and the one time I flew AI there were SO many babies and little kids.

Hopefully someone who has taken their non-stop recently will see your question too.

I flew Air India JFK to Delhi and return last Feb. It was the worst international flight I have ever been on. The plane was old and dirty and the food was disgusting. I would never fly Air India again.

Oh dear, I have already booked domestic return flights with Air India from Mumbai to Goa..........!!

shelleyk, sounds like Air India hasn`t changed much since I have been on it. I got food poisoning too! If you go, order the Indian food. Better and safer!

vhs, if you're just going Mumbai to Goa you should be fine since you'll be on the domestic arm of Air India. Here's hoping anyhow!

Fingers crossed! (don't think I will mention this post to my husband)

vhs, it'll be our secret. Other Asia regulars seem to use Kingfisher and Jet within India.

Kingfisher is reported to be one of only five 5-star airlines in the world.
I hope to put it to a test next spring (together with Jet).

I just talked to some of my Indian students. They said that last month Air India put brand new 77Ls on nonstop routes jfk-bom-jfk and jfk-del-jfk. Three of them flew on these routes in the past month. They had high praise for everything on the flights. They admit that the rest of the routes are still bad, but if you are flying out of JFK, you'll be happy.

I'm already committed but just a vote for both Kingfisher & Spice Jet for internal flights which we used when we were in India last year. No problems on either, service excellent on both but Kingfisher was more polished than Spicejet.

Air India was the only flight available for the times I need to travel. Beggars can't be choosers!

The new Air India direct flights from NYC to BOM/DEL are non-stops and therefore the new long-haul aircraft. While the old AI aircraft were just awful, their saving graces were the service and food, which were far superior than most airlines on those routes. CO has awful service on their non-stop, and the worst food I have eaten on a flight. DL was better on those two counts, but the bathrooms were intolerable after the first four hours.

"DL was better on those two counts, but the bathrooms were intolerable after the first four hours."

I wonder if this is a reflection on Delta or the passengers?

The service on CO non-stop to India was fine in my experiences. They served the food and let us sleep - not much else they can do.

I agree that the food is not great, but it keeps me from overeating on the flight!