When meal arrived on Air India's Delhi (DEL) to Mumbai (BOM) service on the Airbus A320, and Josh Cahill's verdict was immediate: "The food was served and to be honest, it was rather bad, which surprised me though cuz Vistara had great catering back in the days"(12:50). While it might be unfair to judge the airline only by a single factor, this single observation sits at the centre of Cahill's Air India's flight review. According to Cahill's experience, it seems that a carrier that has spent years under Tata Group ownership, promising a turnaround, yet still cannot deliver a creditable economy meal on one of India's busiest domestic routes.
Air India Lounge Refurbishment: Better Walls, Same Buffet
Before boarding, Cahill passed through the Air India lounge at Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in Delhi. The physical space has been updated since his earlier visits, and he acknowledged the improvement and the work done. But the food offering told a different story.
“The lounge has received a lovely refurbishment and the staff has been lovely, too. However, the buffet is still very average and the overall lounge experience isn't that great.”
The pattern Cahill identifies is consistent: cosmetic improvements that do not reach the catering or the core passenger experience. Noel Philips, reviewing a flight with Air India around four months before this flight, similarly noted chaotic airport experiences. So it seems that the ground product at DEL remains a weak point regardless of the reviewer. However, it's worth mentioning that Philips has praised the catering on board on that flight, unlike Cahill.
Branding vs. Product: The Tata Gap
Cahill does not dismiss every change Tata has made. Boarding on the DEL–BOM sector started 30 minutes before departure, which he noted without complaint. On the rebranding effort specifically, he was prepared to give credit:
“I think the rebranding was a success.”
That concession, however, is narrow. A refreshed livery and updated lounges represent the visible layer of a transformation; the in-flight catering on a trunk domestic route is rather more fundamental. Cahill's surprise at the food quality is sharpened by the Vistara comparison: before Air India absorbed Vistara, that carrier had built a reputation for above-average catering in the Indian market. Cahill had praised Vistara's business class product in 2018 as a genuine competitive threat to other Indian carriers, and on a later Vistara flight operated 3 years ago he found the salmon "outstanding, probably one of the best airplane meals I had in a very long time". The merger has not carried those standards forward, at least not on this sector.
This is not the first time Cahill has found Air India's ground and catering operations wanting. In early 2025, he described the ground experience at DEL as "an absolute disaster", and a year earlier he had praised the airline's A350 catering and called the flight "a major milestone in Air India's transformation journey". The inconsistency across routes and aircraft types is itself part of the story: Air India appears capable of a creditable product on flagship long-haul services while the domestic network lags behind.
A Structural Problem, Not a Bad Day
Cahill's broader conclusion goes beyond a single poor meal. When he considers whether Air India can recover commercially, his scepticism is direct.
“I would say so, because I can't see them get out of this crisis, you know, and turn it around and become profitable.”
That assessment draws on a long observation window. Seven years ago, Cahill described Air India as "an airline of extremes; it's either extremely good or it's extremely shocking". The characterisation has proved durable. More recently, he noted that "Air India is chaotic. Air India is hectic" while reviewing the airline's safety record. The DEL–BOM economy flight adds another data point to that pattern rather than disrupting it.
What makes Cahill's position notable is that he is not reflexively hostile to the airline. He acknowledged the rebranding, the lounge renovation, and the staff warmth. The problem, as he frames it, is that these improvements have not reached the parts of the product passengers encounter most directly: what they eat and how the ground operation runs. On a one-hour domestic hop between Delhi and Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, catering is one of the few levers an airline has to distinguish itself. Air India, on this evidence, is not pulling it.
