I have just seen two similar emails by Mr. Rathore and Mr. Gupta indicating that Air-India is going to start serving meals in Thalis to Business Class passengers very soon.

My initial reaction was to commend the CMD on this innovation which truly shows that someone has finally starting thinking “outside the box” with a view to improving the inflight experience.

However, I was taken aback when I read that the airline would use plastic Thalis, even if it is to be “high quality” plastic.  Offering food in any kind of a plastic receptacle is “CHEAP” and I repeat, “CHEAP”.  

For many years, the meal trays served to Business Class passengers on long haul flights such as the India/USA/India non-stops have contained salads and desserts in containers covered with plastic film.  I had enquired why could the cabin crew not take this film off before placing the containers on the tray. On a 14 hour flight, are they so busy that this minor effort was beyond them.  

I don’t blame the cabin crew.  I blame Management who could not enforce discipline.

Air-India has always prided itself (at least while I was still there and in charge of the Inflight Department) of using the best quality crockery, cutlery and linen.  I still remember JRD Tata’s requirement that the when meals are served that the cabin crew switch on all overhead lights so that our cutlery would show its shine.

I also remember when Mr. Tata wrote to me that on his last flight, he noticed that we had substituted “Turkish” towels with plain cloth towels in the First Class toilets.  On checking with the Dy. Director - IFS, I was advised that this had been done to reduce costs.  I immediately over-ruled this decision and Turkish towels returned to the toilets in First Class.

Of course, things have deteriorated since then and we now have paper towels in all Toilets.  On a recent flight, my niece and her family did not find ANY - repeat ANY - toilet paper in any of the Economy Class toilets.  I requested the then CMD for an investigation into this and other complaints and never got a satisfactory answer.  The replies completely ignored the lack of toilet paper.

This is how low the service on AI has deteriorated.

Mr. Tata’s mantra was that AI would be second to none and in my humble opinion, the use of Plastic Thalis is a retrograde step.  A Thali is made of stainless steel and contains about 5 or 6 “Katoris” of the same metal.  I wonder what the latter will be substituted by?  Can you still justify the use of the name “Thali”?

Nari Dastur had a saying - there are those who will not understand and there are those who cannot understand.  This saying truly applies in this instance.  You cannot expect better from today’s Babus and similar categories of people who, unfortunately have reached positions beyond their abilities.

So, while I am happy to see innovations such as these, I am distraught at the low level of mentality that goes with it.  Call me a snob, but I will never eat out of a plastic plate when I am paying for my meal.  I will walk out of any top rated restaurant that dares to use such utensils.

But then, is Air-India “top rated” any more?  I have written before on this subject and even told a former CMD that while in my time, we prided ourselves that a Third World country was operating a First Rate airline, we had now a situation where the same Third World country was operating a Third Rate airline. He didn’t have the guts to respond to my allegation.

Is it any wonder that a large number of Business Class passengers on Air-India are Babus who have been upgraded.  Equally, I am not surprised in the decision to remove the First class cabin on the San Francisco flights.  With the quality of amenities and service being offered, did the current Management really expect to attract  high paying clientele?  They live in a Fool’s paradise.

I am sorry if I have come off rather strongly on this issue, but I must state that the matter of Inflight Service to me was always a high priority and, in my time, we did NOT spare any expense to ensure that we were the BEST.

With the arrival of the new CMD, I was hoping to expect an improvement in the quality of service.  One of his first Commandments was that one of his objectives was to improve On Time Performance to over 80%.  I now read that the OTP on December of all AI flights was 62.8%.

And now, PLASTIC Thalis!!!!!

Perhaps, I was taken in by various pronouncements that “we will restore AI’s glory”.  I was not only naive but hoped that finally we had someone at the helm who was different from all the IAS Babus who were dumped on the airline.  I hate to say this, but you cannot compare ITDC with the Oberoi or the Taj Group when it comes to quality of service.

In my career with Air-India, I had worked with Aviation Secretaries who came from both the ICS and IAS fold.  I saw a similar difference in attitudes and outlook.  It was indeed and honor for me to have worked with ICS Secretaries such as Narottam Sehgal and Nirmal Mukherjee.  What a comedown when that cadre retired from the scene!!!