For now, Air India’s A350-900 aircraft are the only exciting aircraft in their fleet. All six inherited with the Aeroflot designated interiors have been inducted, and at the moment, the aircraft are making domestic trips. In May 2024, the aircraft started making regional trips to Dubai, and there are daily Delhi—Dubai and v.v. and Mumbai—Dubai and v.v. flights, before the aircraft starts to do daily Delhi—London Heathrow and v.v. flights twice daily as of September 1, 2024.

I wanted to try the product (again), so I booked a trip to Dubai on Air India instead of Emirates, which is my usual preference these days. The trip was booked for early June 2024, and I specifically picked the Delhi—Dubai flight on the A350-900 because it was operating on the evening frequency, plus most of the other frequencies during the day were operating on narrow bodies.

As a recap, here is what happened so far:

• Encalm Prive Lounge, Delhi Airport, Terminal 3 (International)
• AI 995, Delhi to Dubai on board Air India’s A350 Business Class
• Visa on Arrival in Dubai
• Residence Inn, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai
• Ahlan Business Class Lounge, Dubai Airport, Terminal 1

On the day of the flight, I took the Dubai Metro, which was connected to Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. However, during the evening rush hour (about 6:30 to 8:30 PM), it won’t be a great idea to try walking into a packed Dubai Metro train heading up to the airport, as I realised. Take a cab instead. I arrived at the airport metro station and was inside the terminal building after a short travellator ride.

It took a bit of peeping on the departure screens to find the exact aisle being used by Air India, but it wasn’t too much trouble to get there.

Dnata does the ground handling for Air India in Dubai. The Business Class counter was not very crowded, and I could quickly complete my check-in process. However, there was a problem. Not them, but me.

When I booked the ticket, the routing I had picked up was DEL-DXB-BOM-DEL. So, I’d booked to return to Mumbai and, from there, take a flight to Delhi (both on the A350-900). However, at this point, I was tired of the travel, given I was on the road for roughly two weeks and still had more to go. I’d been over to Hamburg for a week, and then the day I arrived home, I swapped bags and departed for Dubai the same evening. I wanted to check if the airline could put me on the Delhi flight instead of having me fly the original route of DXB-BOM-DEL.

The agent at the Business Class counter did not have this under her control, and she said I’d have to talk to an Air India representative. She said she wouldn’t put my checked bag on the flight at the moment, but she was also unable to reach the AI Duty Manager. So, I headed over to the Duty Manager’s desk at the other end of the counters and explained the situation to him. I also discussed airline commerce with him and why they should do it. Even he had to talk to his senior before he could admit my unusual request. Eventually, he saw the reason and asked one of his colleagues to bump me from the two segments I was already checked in on and then transfer me to the DXB – DEL flight. This is subject to the possibility of my bag not being released to the earlier routing.

Once the approvals arrived, I had a new boarding pass. This whole thing ensured I spent about 20 minutes between counters before I could have the changed boarding pass in my hand. Ravi from Air India and Arun from the Dnata crew were very cooperative and highly professional during the process.

There was also a lounge invitation that was handed out along, instead of printing it on the boarding pass itself.

As a point of reference, the Dubai—Mumbai flight takes off at 23:45 hours, while the Dubai—Delhi flight departs at 00:15 hours. If I remember correctly, I booked the Mumbai flight at the time of booking because it would have helped me get out of Dubai a half hour earlier.

It was a quick hop through the Dubai Passport Control e-gates and security. And I hopped across to the Ahlan Business Class Lounge for a quick bite. You can read the full review of the lounge here.

After spending about an hour or so in the lounge, I headed to the gate. I wanted to browse through the duty-free area for something I was looking to pick up for the family.

It was a fifteen-minute hop to the gate, including the lifts and the people mover. On gate D13, my earlier flight, AI984 to Mumbai, was already getting ready for departure.

I arrived at the gate about when the crew boarded the plane. The Air India A350, with the racoon mask, looks pretty cool wherever it pulls up at an airport.

The Mumbai-bound A350 was on the next gate. I wish this picture had been taken during the day, with less reflection and more sunlight. But in a few years, you should see the A350s dot airports around the globe.

At the gate, everyone waited patiently for the Air India / Dnata team to announce boarding.

Boarding was announced in the order intended about forty minutes before departure. First, pre-boarding was announced for anyone with mobility restrictions. Next were the Business Class and Star Alliance Gold/Air India Gold + Platinum members.

Air India AI996
Dubai (DXB) – Delhi (DEL) 
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
Departure: 00:21 AM
Duration: 4 Hours 20 minutes
Arrival: 05:41 AM
Aircraft Type: Airbus A350-900 
Seat: 4A (Business)
Meal Service: Dinner

Given my experience on the incoming flight, I wasn’t expecting much on this trip. The business section was booked up about half. I was directed to my seat on boarding. Here is seat 4A, with a bit of mood lighting setting up the tone for this flight. A small pillow and a throw blanket were waiting at the seat.

As usual at Air India, a very confusing SOP, the three-point seat belt is buckled up before the guests arrive on board. Is this to raise awareness amongst passengers that the safety harness needs to be buckled up in full or just because someone thought it should be the way it should be? Other carriers usually have the belt pulled up and not on display at the time of boarding.

Air India’s Airbus A350-900 Business Class In-flight product

I settled into my seat. On board is a 21″ in-flight screen.

As I keep reiterating, the foot cubby is comfortable, even for side sleepers.

Fortunately, the storage compartment on this seat was not broken like I saw on the incoming flight.

While the movie choices looked good on this flight, I switched to the tail camera for my inflight entertainment until we did not take off.

Air India’s A350-900 Business Class In-flight service

Cabin Supervisor Christy was going to take care of us on this flight. She first came around to introduce herself and brought along pre-departure beverages. The options were juice and buttermilk. Right after, they distributed headphones to the business-class guests. Cold Towels were distributed. We closed the doors on time, at 12:15 AM, for an on-time departure.

On this flight, Christy checked with the guests to see if they knew about the seat features or if this was the first time they were flying them. She could tell them how the seat controls worked. It was a significant win, given that I was travelling as an anonymous guest and not someone known to be on this flight even three hours prior.

Before takeoff, menus for dinner service were distributed. A separate wine list was also provided. As the plane pushed back, the safety demonstration video played. The new safety video was updated and put out.

We were out of Dubai quickly, and the crew jumped into action after we climbed and were on our way at a stable altitude, about one hour after the flight’s scheduled departure and thirty minutes after we took off. The crew came around and unlocked the doors for passengers so that they could leave them open or shut them down as they pleased.

I went in with low expectations, and I continued to get surprised on this flight. After taking off, I was asked if I wanted to drink something. I requested a helping of Champagne after a long day at work and to help me go off to sleep after I was done with it. It was done correctly, with the crew first coming over and setting up my glass and a snack of mixed nuts. They brought out the Champagne bottle, and then, and poured it in front of me.

The crew came around to check if I wanted a top-up and were generous with the bubbly. I chatted with Christy, and it turned out that she had spent 19 years at Air India. She knew what she was doing. So did the rest of the crew. I mentioned the 4700 BC Snacks they stock on board, and some of these magically appeared quickly. That caramel popcorn is at par with Garrett, the gourmet popcorn brand I love the most. You should try them sometime.

Unsurprisingly, the crew on this flight was very patient as well. I was watching a movie and nursing my drink, so they waited for me to prepare for dinner. I did not even realise it because other guests, who were not sleeping at that hour, had already been served. They were not here to just be done with you and then go and chat in the galley.

Here are the dinner options for this flight. It was the same menu from the prior flight basically, as the flight is reverse catered from Delhi.

I was tempted to try out the Cannelloni, but I requested for the Indian Vegetarian meal to be served, and it turned out to be quite a big helping. They did not even have space for all the bowls on the tray in which the food was brought over.

The portions were generous, and the food tasted good. Food has always been Air India’s strong spot, and this flight was no different in that sense.

After my meal, the crew asked if I wanted another drink, tea, or coffee. I requested lemon tea, which was brought about pretty quickly.

Lights were dimmed by now, and at some point in time, I dozed off on the flight for about an hour. The captain announced descent, and that was around the time I got out of my nap.

The lights were brought up, and the crew started to prepare the cabin for landing on this flight. It was an uneventful flight largely, and at about 5 AM, we touched down in Delhi at the IGIA.

Unfortunately, we did not have a gate ready, despite an on-time arrival into Delhi. So we continued to hold and taxi and hold around the airport for about 40 minutes before we were sent to a hard gate on the Terminal 2 apron, where aircraft are usually parked when not being operated.

This meant some good plane-spotting opportunities, but it was a sleepless night, and all I wanted was to go home.

Eventually, we deboarded. The cabin crew and the pilots were apologetic about this delay, but unfortunately, there was not much they could do in this situation.

The crew directed the business class passengers to the L2 gate and held it for them before anyone else could deboard. However, the bus to take us to the terminal was the same, so we eventually waited a while before heading out.

The night before, Delhi had seen a hoax call onboard an Air Canada Jet. Consequently, the jet had not departed, and the International Arrivals gate was used as a holding area for all on board. More delays happened to get into the building now, as the security forces were not expecting use of the bus gate at that hour, and they were caught unaware.

Eventually, Air India got some people together and threw a human cordon around their passengers to allow them to pass through and head to immigration without being mixed up with the Air Canada passengers. As much as I respected the thinking from both sides, I was yawning away, waiting to get home and catch a nap by this time. From landing in Delhi to exiting the airport was a 1.2-hour affair, about one-third of the time on board AI996.

Bottomline

This flight experience with Air India was good, both with the hard product and the attention to detail the crew had. The crew was focused on delivering a great experience, which I also expected to see on the outgoing flight. To quote from Forrest Gump, ” Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” That should not be the case on board an airline, not one trying to be a global full-service one at that for sure.

Have you experienced the A350 on one of the international flights of Air India? What has been your experience?

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Pros

+ Brand new aircraft
+ Spacious
+ Private Business Class (with door)
+ Working IFE
+ Meal Choices

Cons

- Cabin Crew Training needs work

Rating