I have my jaw dropped as I write this. I am slightly surprised that Air India can win an award for good service! And I am trying to figure this out, so stay with me till I figure this out!

A tweet appeared on my timeline this evening and I rubbed my eyes when I saw it. It said something to the effect of Air India winning an award for good quality service. It kind of reminded me of the time I last got on an AI plane domestic and I was stranded for approximately 24 hours before I got on the next one. It also reminded me of the time when I got on an AI plane to Singapore and had an air hostess offer me wine on the rocks! Yeah, red wine with ice, figure that out! 😉

So this award they won, is the World Travel Awards. Haven’t heard of them before, but it looks like an award with a proper nomination and polling procedure and 18th year on a roll now. Here is the link to their website, and turns out they have a global award ceremony where all airlines and hotels stand a chance to win.

Air India won the award for the Best Airline with economy service in Asia. And they seem to have beaten down competition from Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific hands down. Anyone who ever travelled on any of these ‘loser’ airlines if I may call them for a moment, never got offered ice in his wine for sure on an international flight, or an expired Diet Coke in his flight.

You might call me cynical here, but this surely does not seem right. They also won India’s Best Airline  award. I might be suspected for being called a Jet Airways loyalist, but hey, there was Indigo on that list of nominees also. And also Kingfisher and Spicejet. Then I really don’t know what parameters were applied to have given this title to Air India! Anyone could tell me, please leave me a note in the comments segment! I won’t give them the award for service quality, for crew, for on-time performance or anything else I relate to the world of aviation.

On the brighter side, I discovered a new property to plan a trip to sometime shortly. The Oberoi, Gurgaon won the award for the Best Luxury Hotel in Asia (and India!) . So time to head up there shortly!