Air India Updates Employee Travel Policy, Even CEO Will Fly Economy

Air India is updating its travel policy for employees flying domestically, as reported by The Times of India, and I’m impressed by the extent to which it involves leading by example…

Air India’s new domestic staff travel policy

Air India is updating its policy for employees traveling domestically on official business. This applies across the board, whether we’re talking about the CEO traveling somewhere for a conference, or a pilot deadheading somewhere to operate a flight.

As of April 1, 2025 (and as of June 1, 2025, for pilots), the default class of travel for all Air India employees is economy on domestic flights. That means every type of employee (including the CEO) will only be confirmed in economy when traveling domestically on official business.

Then 50 minutes before departure, once all passengers have had the opportunity to pay for business class or to upgrade, employees will be eligible for space available upgrades to premium economy or economy.

Up until now, select corporate employees and pilots have received positive space business class seats, but that will no longer be the case. This policy change comes a couple of years after Air India’s privatization, as the airline is aggressively retrofitting narrow body planes with smaller business class cabins, and new premium economy cabins.

The airline wants these seats to be available to paying customers as much as possible, as the company has reportedly seen the number of domestic premium seats that are sold double since privatization.

I appreciate the travel policy’s consistency!

I very much appreciate the intent behind Air India’s updated policy, which is to preserve premium cabins first for those who are looking to pay for seats, before assigning those premium seats to employees. I respect how the company really is taking a top down approach here, as this even applies to the CEO.

It’s quite a contrast to what we see in the US. Of course senior executives at airlines all get positive space premium seating. Not only that, but pilots at most US airlines also now receive priority for first class when deadheading.

Specifically, if they’re traveling in order to position to work a flight, they’ll be on the upgrade list ahead of paying passengers on the day of departure. Ultimately this has been negotiated as part of the latest contracts that have been ratified, so that’s something they’re entitled to, and it’s not a courtesy that the airline provides out of the kindness of its heart.

I’m always conflicted on the topic of airline employees being confirmed in premium cabins in advance. On the one hand, the optics aren’t great when you promise paying customers a certain benefit (like space available upgrades), and then they end up going to employees. On the other hand, it’s also not unreasonable to think that a senior executive at a major corporation in India would fly in a premium cabin for their business travel. But again, that gets at the culture of leading by example, and I respect that very much.

Bottom line

Air India is updating its domestic travel policy for employees. With this change, all Air India employees will be confirmed into economy for official company travel domestically, and they’ll only receive premium cabin seats on a space available basis, 50 minutes before departure.

This policy shift comes as Air India is reducing the size of its business class cabins on some jets, while also introducing premium economy. The emphasis is on selling these seats as much as possible, especially with the increased demand for premium seats.

What do you make of Air India’s updated employee travel policy?