A cousin of mine, who swears by Middle Eastern carriers and will happily add an eight-hour layover in Doha or Dubai rather than fly anyone else, came to India last month on Air India. When I asked him why, half-expecting a big reveal, he just shrugged and said he’d been hearing good things and figured he’d give it a shot.

I mention this because the big news last week was a reported $1.1 billion lifeline from Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines. There’s a lot weighing on Air India right now — a $2.3 billion loss, the Pakistan airspace shutdown still costing hundreds of millions a year, a new CEO stepping into a turnaround even Tata Sons admits will take longer than hoped.

But the money this time isn’t a blank check, it’ll come in installments, tied to actual milestones, which tells you the owners are done being patient.

And yet, somewhere in all that, one skeptical flyer changed his mind based on just word of mouth. Of course, this may not show up in any earnings report and it will certainly not fix the fleet delays or the losses. But perhaps turnarounds happen this way too, when people start giving you another shot.

Small win. Still a win. Let’s see if it holds.