Air India Express seems to be an eye-catcher as far as its livery goes, but these two reports on its inflight service (not a first-hand account) seem disappointing. These were forwarded to Air India Express and Air India for comment, but its been 12 days. A deafening silence.  

Any comments?

Air India Express-

6 May 2006

My third flight on IX (from Dubai to Cochin), and quite possibly my last. It appears that there is no cabin maintenance at all. Most seat cushions badly soiled - as if the plane had been used to carry livestock. No paper or cloth covers for the head rests. Carpet in a filthy and lamentable state throughout the cabin. At first I thought the window I was sitting next to was covered in a layer of condensation. I then found out it was a film of grease and grime, with the window frame covered in a brownish substance containing lots of human hair. (This aircraft was the one with winglets)

Air India Express

30 November 2005

Air India Express from Cochin to Dubai on 25/11/05. Aircraft quite new and thanks to being seated in one of two emergency exit rows, lots of leg room. Despite travelling on a low cost airline, you nevertheless are served a snack consisting of sandwich, cake, fruit juice, water, coffee or tea. On the downside, the passenger next to me was allowed boarding in a clearly less than sober state, and the crew continued to serve him hard liquor throughout the flight (alcoholic beverages available on a for sale basis). He even managed to complete the entire flight without ever having availed of the seat belt. Also, despite being a non-smoking flight, crew were quite relaxed at seeing the lavatories being used continuously as smoking rooms - with the obvious and objectionable result of extremely bad air quality in the cabin throughout the flight. (This aircraft was the first one AIX got)