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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Airline Reviews

I had a chance to travel to Bengaluru and back on 3 different airlines. here is my experience.


Indigo

Mumbai - Bengaluru @ 2120 hours. I reached the airport around 2045 and was promptly checked in. Had already booked tickets with the seats selected on the website. The female at the counter re-confirmed if I had booked the seats and I said yes.

Flight took off on dot - 2120 we were air borne. Great looking crew and impeccable service coupled with a super clean aircraft made it a great experience. Landed at Bengaluru bang on time - 2250.

The not so good experience was - they gave me row 20 when I had blocked seats on row 6. I did not bother to check as the female asked me whether I had blocked seats so I assummed I would get those seats. And also they do not have cotton that we stuff in the ear - isn't that taking cost cutting a bit too far ?

Verdict - Highly Recommended




Air India (earlier Indian Airlines)


Bengaluru - Mumbai @ 0835. Get a call at 0600 - Sir flight is delayed by 45 minutes. I leave for the airport @ 0715, reach airport around 0825 - pick up the boarding pass and get the security check done with. It's 0850.

Around 0900, I walk up to the staff at the gate and ask them whether the flight is delayed because I have not heard any annoucements for the Mumbai flight. They assure me the ETD is 0930 and they will board at 0915.

Its 1000 and we have not started boarding. The people are getting edgy and restless. 1015 - still nothing, people start raising their voices and we get a feeble response that the aircraft is being cleaned. I look out towards the bay and see the engineers working furiously on the engine. The situation gets more tense with all the people loosing it totally. Abuses fly thick and fast with warnings of getting physical. The airport manager is called in and asked to arrange for putting people in a different airline. They check with Jet and they have 80-100 seats. We are herded back to the check in counter of Jet Airways - get a new boarding pass, pass through security and straight into the aircraft. ETD - 1125 and the flight takes off at 1145 - the delay happens because the checked in luggage has to be transferred from Air India to Jet.

Verdict - Avoid at any cost




Jet Airways


Good service, clean aircrafts and nice looking crew - really good food too.

Verdict - Great




Given a choice between Indigo and Jet - I would go with Indigo because it has cheaper fare

On the flip side - Jet has better connections to different cities.

1 comment:

dreamcatcher said...

I would also recommened Indigo.
Jet is o.k.

When the fuel costs had skyrocketed, the airlines had increased the fuel surcharge. Now when the oil cost has halfed, why arent they reducing it??