I just went through a customer service nightmare and wanted to warn anyone on the Red tier of the Maharaja Club: The system will let you book for someone else, but it will issue the ticket in YOUR name anyway.
If you try to book a flight for someone else using your points/account, the website will allow you enter in the passenger's name, bday, passport number, and Maharaja number. However, because of some known issue, the ticket will be issued in the account holder's name - discarding what you put in for the passenger.
Apparently there is a rule you can only book for another passenger on the Red tier if you have flown at least 2 Air India flights in the last 12 months. Instead of blocking the transaction or showing a warning, the UI lets you complete the flow, making you think everything is fine until the ticket hits your inbox with the wrong name.
Luckily, I caught the mistake within 24 hours, but getting it canceled was a battle. They first claimed I was within 24 of the flight departing (it wasn't, it was 34 hours). They absurdly claimed IST (India Standard Time) redefined the 24-hour cancellation window, despite the flight being between two US cities via United. 😂 After getting a supervisor involved, they cancelled it but deducted 25% of my points as a fee. To charge a "mistake fee" for a systemic UI failure that collects passenger data it intends to ignore is ridiculous.
I'm obviously going to pursue getting all my points restored, but just wanted to share this word of warning in case it's helpful!