Air India Adjusts Cabin Crew Layover Policy To Allow Single Room Occupancy On Ultra-Long-Haul Flights

Among the recent changes that Air India has made to several of its employee-related policies was regarding rooms for cabin crew members during layovers. There was some backlash initially when the carrier decided that its flight attendants would have to share a room during layovers, but now, Air India has made slight changes to that policy.

Change in policy

Air India has tweaked its layover policy for cabin crew members operating certain flights. The airline has introduced a new rule regarding hotel accommodation for flight attendants, requiring them to share rooms during layovers.

However, the airline has now made an additional change to the policy. Flight attendants operating ultra-long-haul flights will be given separate rooms. Cabin executives, who command seniority in the overall hierarchy because of eight years and more of flying experience, will be given separate rooms on all layovers.

The Press Trust of India has had access to internal communications of Air India, which also says that the separate room policy applies to unscheduled layovers that arise from unforeseen circumstances such as a flight diversion.

Previous backlash

As part of its organizational changes and the upcoming merger with Vistara, Air India is introducing some new employee-related policies. A few weeks ago, the airline was in the news after it introduced a new rule that required flight attendants to share a room on all layovers.

Air India also increased the layover allowance for international flights per night from $75-100 to $85-135. However, there was some resistance from cabin crew members about sharing a room and concerns about adequate rest due to room sharing.

However, Air India has now changed the rules for ultra-long-haul flights, which can be particularly demanding for flight crew. The carrier operates these flights mainly to the US, the longest of which is between Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) in South India and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

These new rules will be applicable from December 1, with the carrier previously stating that these have been introduced keeping in mind its upcoming merger with Vistara. Air India’s spokesperson was previously reported as saying,

“…With the merger of Air India and Vistara formalising, there is a need to harmonise these policies for employees of both the organisations. As part of that exercise, we have communicated the changes applicable to Air India employees. The revised compensation and benefits continue to be competitive and benchmarked to industry standards.”

Merger with Vistara

Air India and Vistara are fast approaching their eventual merger next month, which will see the airlines operate as a consolidated carrier. However, the two airlines will still have different codes, with Air India continuing to use its current IATA code ‘AI’ and Vistara will use ‘AI 2.’

Vistara’s fleet will eventually become one with Air India’s, and the two airlines will diversify their offering significantly once their businesses integrate fully.

Both airlines also offer loyalty programs that will also merge under the new combined program called the Maharaja Club. Simple Flying has analyzed this in detail in the article below.