India, March 20 -- In the last few weeks, Air India (AI) added a few more black marks to its not so stellar report card. The Tata-owned airline was in the news after a flight bound for Delhi had to return to Chicago airport after eight out of its 12 lavatories were found clogged and unusable, an embarrassing state of affairs by any yardstick and one that reeks of some kind of sabotage. AI was also in the news for having denied a wheelchair to an elderly passenger, prompting the civil aviation minister to say a show-cause notice would be issued to the carrier.

Almost no week goes by without a minister, politician, celebrity, senior media persons, or regular fliers complaining about the airline's service standards or poor handling. Many of...