Air India tweeted Amartya Sen's note, saying it was "honoured with the words of appreciation".
Battling to remove the smudge on its reputation after being judged the world's third worst performing airline, national carrier Air India has posted a proud tweet: A Thank You note from Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who was a passenger in its Delhi-London flight. As it happened, the flight was late.
"#AI is honoured with the words of appreciation from #Noble Laureate #AmartyaSen for travel on #AI111. Hope to see you on board again," the tweet from Air India read.
The enclosed note from the 83-year-old Mr Sen read, "Many thanks indeed for wonderful service and great care! I am most grateful -- and also very impressed. Best wishes and warm regards!"
The note was dated January 9, when the Nobel laureate took the Air India flight from Delhi to London. It was also the day the recent report by flight data firm FlightStats, made headlines. The firm's survey had focused on the On Time Performance of flights, indicating it was an area in which Air India has failed to shine.
Air India has called the data "fabricated", promising to get to the bottom of the matter.
Its spokesperson said, "We totally disagree with the report published by an agency about Air India. Initially it seems that the report is fabricated, so Air India management will investigate the report till the end".
But the Delhi-London AI 111, on which Mr Sen was a passenger, also happened to be late. The flight, which was supposed to depart at 2.45 pm, took off more than an hour later, arriving in London over 40 minutes after the scheduled time. The airline did not comment on the matter.