Son travelling to India - airline recommendation

[Converse2020]

My son is planning a trip to India in early March 27 to see a uni friend in Delhi and would be travelling from LHR.
He says Air India economy is cheapest and a friend has already booked their flight on this route but I’ve said I’d heard Air India flies across Russia. He’s checked flight radar and the recent flights didn’t go over Russia.

BA flies direct but is more but not by much so would likely be my recommendation but am I right to be concerned about potential route over Russia ?
If air India don’t fly over Russia is there anything to compare the aircraft / facilities between the two ?

Thanks

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Flying over Russia is an irrelevance.

However a good amount of my family are in aviation and all have standing rules to not fly carriers from India or Pakistan due to stuff such as:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53182750

EDIT Also cheaper carriers may frequently have people behaving like animals, although money is no barrier (see Dubai <--> India flights for absolute horror shows of behaviour).

[-Cappo-]

Personally that’s a question which doesn’t even need asking, regardless of the routing over Russia!

[bigandclever]

Q. Should I fly with Air India or ..

A. With the other one.

[-Cappo-]

If you’re still not sure:



Yes, that’s a score of 1.4 from nearly 2000 reviews.

[Converse2020]

Thanks all. He’s agreed to go with BA !

[oakm0nt]

Look at indirect flights as well. A few years ago now but I remember getting approval for a prem economy direct BA flight. With that amount banked I then rebooked first class on Emirates for less through Dubai and expensed the whole lot. Bargain.

[Ezra]

We flew LHR to Dehli return back in April this year with Virgin. The flight was good value, we did economy with extra leg room, and would definitely recommend it. Good service, no intrusive announcements, and neither the outward or return flights felt like 9 hours at all. As for routing....I wouldn't worry - the airlines know where they should and shouldn't go.

[DSMSMR]

Air India is really really dismal. Go with any Arab airline

[LRDefender]

I’m flying around Central Asia a bit and I have no concerns about routing. I spoke to a pilot friend in the region and he has zero concerns either.

I’ve noticed some crazily good deals recently on Skyscanner, with Islamabad to London with Etihad looking exceptionally cheap. I’m sure that with a bit of shopping around similar deals can be found from India.

[aeropilot]

Converse2020 said:

Thanks all. He s agreed to go with BA !

Sensible decision.

As someone that spent a lot of my working life at LHR, the general rule given out was never fly with an Indian or Pakistan based airline.

[texaxile]

Ahhh...the memories of flying on an Air India 747 from LHR to Bombay in 1995.

They're the kind of memories your brain deletes to save you from the trauma of revisiting them. The toilets were a sight to behold.

It was so bad that I cancelled my return trip with them and went with Gulf Air via Bahrain instead.