MUMBAI- A senior Air India (AI) passenger faced a significant service disruption at Delhi Airport (DEL) when told their confirmed business class seats on a direct flight to Vancouver (YVR), Canada were “not working” on Sunday, April 13, 2025.
The 84-year-old traveler and family were offered economy seats or rerouting despite paying premium fares specifically for direct business class travel.
Photo: Utkarsh Thakkar (Vimanspotter)Air India Business Class Passenger Downgraded
The incident highlights ongoing service challenges at Air India (AI) as the carrier works through its post-Tata acquisition transformation.
The family was eventually rerouted through London Heathrow (LHR), extending their journey time significantly and creating additional hardship for the elderly passenger requiring wheelchair assistance.
The situation at Delhi Airport Terminal 3 revealed apparent gaps in Air India’s service recovery protocols when handling disruptions to premium cabin passengers.
According to the Soma Maitra, passenger’s account, the family was initially offered only two options: either accept economy class seats or be offloaded from the flight entirely.
This approach demonstrated limited flexibility in accommodating passengers who had specifically paid for business class comfort, particularly important for the elderly traveler requiring special assistance.
When the family protested, Air India rerouted them through London, significantly extending their travel time. Instead of a direct arrival in Vancouver at 7:00 AM, they would now arrive at 3:30 PM after navigating multiple airports and aircraft changes. For an 84-year-old passenger requiring wheelchair support, this rerouting added considerable physical strain.
The passenger specifically mentioned “oversold flights” combined with “old aircraft issues,” suggesting that Air India may be selling premium cabins without adequate contingency plans when maintenance issues arise. This creates particularly difficult situations for passengers with special needs who select specific flight options based on their requirements.
Photo: VT-VLO TwitterCustomer Communication and Tata Values
The passenger reported encountering staff who displayed “no empathy” and “no accountability” during the service failure.
This experience stands in contrast to the service excellence reputation associated with the Tata Group, which acquired Air India in January 2022 with promises to revitalize the airline’s operations and customer experience.
Following social media outreach to Air India leadership, the passenger noted that the London ground team provided significantly better service, demonstrating inconsistency across the airline’s network.
Air Canada (AC), which operated the connecting segment from London to Vancouver, apparently delivered more satisfactory service.
Photo: Utkarsh Thakkar (Vimanspotter)Similar Experience
A few days ago, we shared the details of service complaints on long-haul routes with evidence emerging of crew utilizing business class seats while paying passengers receive downgrades. The 12,080-kilometer Delhi to Chicago O’Hare route demonstrates particularly consistent issues.
Reports document a troubling pattern on flight AI126 where business class passengers encounter prepared “technical issue” forms at boarding gates. The forms claim seats “won’t recline” and request passenger approval for reassignment to economy accommodations with compensation.
One passenger who challenged the claim and inspected her supposedly broken business seat discovered only a minor tray table issue. She subsequently observed crew members sleeping in deliberately cleared business class rows during the flight. The passenger confirmed similar patterns occurred on her return journey, with other travelers reporting identical experiences on previous flights.
Air India’s spokesperson denied passenger relocation claims, telling Aviation A2Z,
A passenger who was told to sign a seat relocation consent form was just for her own good as sometimes they can be allocated a broken seat or dysfunctional seat and they can be downgraded to working seats due to limited premium seats.”
The spokesperson further explained,
The legacy aircraft has no crew rest area and the airline blocks some first and business-class seats for their rest as per the regulatory requirements. So this is the case for all the 12 Boeing 777s that are deployed on long-haul routes.”
Despite recent privatization and fleet renewal plans, these documented seat manipulation practices suggest systematic issues rather than isolated incidents, contradicting the airline’s official explanation.
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