Grammy Winner Ricky Kej Flags Issues with Air India Services- Airline Responds

As a frequent Air India flyer with over 7 years of experience traveling domestically and internationally on the airline, I was disappointed to learn about the recent experience Grammy-winning Indian music composer Ricky Kej had with Air India. He took to social media to highlight several issues he faced during his flight from Bengaluru to Delhi. Read below about “Grammy Winner Ricky Kej Flags Issues with Air India Services- Airline Responds”.

In my extensive experience flying Air India, I have had both good and bad experiences. As a loyal customer, I want to see the airline improve and provide a consistent, high-quality flying experience for all passengers. At the same time, having worked in the airline industry early in my career, I understand how complex airline operations are. My goal here is to analyze Ricky Kej’s Air India experience objectively, highlight areas needing improvement, and provide constructive feedback to the airline.

The Issues Ricky Kej Faced

According to his social media posts, Ricky Kej was upset with Air India because:

• He was initially assigned a seat that didn’t recline. He had to argue repeatedly to get a seat with a reclining option.
• The cabin crew was allegedly rude and unaccommodating regarding his seating issue.
• The crew did not have vegetarian meal options when serving dinner. As a vegetarian, Ricky had no dinner option on a 4-hour evening flight.
• The entertainment screen at his seat was not working.

I have experienced some of these issues in the past when flying Air India, so Ricky’s complaints definitely have merit. At the same time, having worked with airlines, I know issues like unavailable special meals or faulty entertainment screens can happen occasionally due to operational glitches. However, the cabin crew’s alleged rude behavior and lack of effective handling of Ricky’s seating issue is concerning and shows an urgent need to improve customer service training.

My Experiences Flying Air India

As a frequent Air India business class flyer, I have had both good and bad experiences over the past 7+ years. Here are some examples:

Positive Experiences

• Smooth check-in, boarding and baggage handling processes. Efficient airport staff.
• New aircraft with comfortable seats and good entertainment systems.
• Courteous, helpful cabin crew on most flights. Crew addressed my requests promptly.
• Wide variety of meal options in business class. Vegetarian options always available.

Negative Experiences

• Old aircraft with faulty/missing entertainment screens and uncomfortable seats.
• Cabin crew completely unaware of my special meal request despite advance booking.
• Ground staff at one airport very slow and unhelpful with baggage issues.
• Experienced uncomfortable cabin temperature and air flow on one flight.

On the whole, I find Air India’s hard product (aircraft, seats, entertainment system) inconsistent due to a mixed fleet of new and old planes. This needs improvement via fleet upgrade.

The soft product (food, crew, airport staff service) is reasonably good but varies a lot depending on specific staff assigned to the flight. More extensive customer service training is required to reduce variability and improve consistency.

Air India’s Response

In response to Ricky’s social media complaints, Air India issued a statement saying: “Air India sincerely acknowledges the disappointment experienced by this esteemed passenger. The airline regrets the inconvenience caused to him while availing our service.”

They further said they have “taken serious note of the incident” and are investigating to prevent such incidents in future. The airline also contacted Ricky directly to get more details about his experience.

I believe this was an appropriate response. As a frequent customer, I appreciate Air India’s acknowledgement of Ricky Kej’s bad experience as well as their commitment to investigate the incident and prevent recurrences. This gives me confidence they are serious about improving customer service.

However, this alone is not enough. The airline now needs to follow through on its promise of investigation and change. I am keen to see what specific steps are taken to improve staff training, meal planning and aircraft maintenance to provide better overall customer experience.

Recommendations for Air India

As a loyal Air India flyer, I want to provide some constructive feedback on how the airline can improve based on my extensive first-hand experience:

Staff and Crew Training

• Extensive customer service training for all staff – especially cabin crew – to improve courtesy, problem resolution skills
• Train crew on handling special meal requests; have clear SOPs for meal inventory/planning

Aircraft Maintenance

• Invest in upgrading and standardizing the entire fleet for consistent iflyer experience
• Schedule regular maintenance checks to minimize faulty entertainment screens, seats

Catering and Meals

• Expand vegetarian and special meal options on all flight categories
• Quality checks before every flight to match meals loaded with booked special meal requests

I recognize it will take significant time and investment for Air India to implement these recommendations. However, this effort is vital if Air India wants to shed its mixed reputation and compete with global standards set by leading international carriers.

As an Indian flyer, I sincerely want to see our national airline succeed. With the right long-term vision and execution, Air India has immense potential. I hope they take feedback from customers like Ricky Kej and myself seriously to drive positive change.

My Overall Perspective

In over 7 years and dozens of Air India flights as a frequent flyer, I have had both good and bad experiences. The airline has strengths it can build upon, like its hard product upgrades and reasonable food quality (when meals are loaded properly!).

However, lack of staff/crew customer service training and uneven aircraft maintenance continue to create unsatisfactory customer experiences like Ricky Kej highlighted.

While one-off operational issues can happen to any airline, repeated basic issues point to deeper systemic and cultural problems in an organization. Air India needs a long-term, customer-centric mindset focused on service quality and consistency.

Conclusion

With strategic investments, staff training and process redesign, I believe Air India can transform itself. The reality though is this will require significant internal change – in systems, processes and culture. It remains to be seen if the airline leadership has the vision and ability to drive such change successfully.

As a loyal Indian flyer, I sincerely hope Air India can elevate itself to be an airline we are proud of globally. The potential is certainly there. I hope you like reading “Grammy Winner Ricky Kej Flags Issues with Air India Services- Airline Responds”.