Hi Folks!
Let me tell you what all are you gonna find in this blog. A simple end user perspective of various airliners flying in the India sky. Nothing deep, nothing detailed but just a very customrary review.
I ve flown with a total of six airlines in the last six months. Indian Airlines (1), KingFisher (3), Indigo(3), GoAir(1), SpiceJet(2), Jet Airways(2). Numbers in parenthesis denote the number of times I ve flown that particular airline in the last six months.
Indian Airlines : Truly an Indian Enterprise. Had it continued under the patronship of the TATAs, it woud ve done much better. The flights are generally ok. Not bad if all you wanna do is just get to your destination. Flight crew is homely. Though I ve heard of people complaining about their in-flight services, my solitary experience was not all that bad. Nothing exceptional, but good enough for the needs. I had flown with them days before the Indian Airlines monetary crunch happened. They might have put in further cost saving measures in there.
Kingfisher: The airline which brought glamour to the Indian Skies with the pretty czech beauty Yana Gupta as their ambassador with their array of equally beautiful cabin crew. Kingfisher has one of the best in-flight entertainment systems in the Indian sky. The food is ok, nothing exceptional. Seats are pretty comfortable. Their aquisition of Deccan airlines, India’s first low-cost airlines now help them to offer cheaper versions of Kingfisher experience.
Indigo: These folks are on a cost saving measure and it shows in the fact that so far I ve found them to be the only airline which doesn’t carry even the basic ear-plugs/cotton. If you are the ones like me having lots of trouble due to the changing air pressure from the altitude, you are in for a bad toss! The food, which can be purchased from the inflight services is cold. Agreed they are low cost airlines but still. Also, these guys are going in for a kill with their high connectivity and red eye flights! One example. Indigo is the only airline providing one-stop connectivity from Bangalore to Patna. Its approximately 4 hours flight via Kolkata. And during the present vacation season their quoting price was 24,000 INR for return tickets! I rather chose to fly with Kingfisher and Jet Via Delhi and got it all for 13,000 INR return! Phew, seems like Kingfisher and Jet can taut themselves as the low cost airliners rather 😛 Seats are ok. The AC in the Indigo flight seem to be highly directional. I had to once keep my face towards the duct throughout the flight just to get a whiff of fresh air coz someone was passing all through the time! In short, this is an airline I have the most complains with as of date.
Go-Air: Another of low cost airliners but a comfort to fly with. They provide cotton, even though its like loose cotton pulled out of the first aid box and not packed ones. Hygiene might go for a toss with respect to the cotton but its a life saver when it comes to just a few shrads of cotton to avoid the excruciating ear pain. Seats look very flimsy but are not all that bad.
SpiceJet: One more low cost airline, it provides bottled water atleast. Seats are with leather cover and one of my friends find it uncomfortable. I ll rather describe it as the seats found in the Indian buses. I don’t mean they are uncomfortable but just that their feel and texture remind me of the buses. 😛 Nothing much to complain about this one.
Jet Airways: A truly royal comfort to fly with. They don’t have the glamour that Kingfisher may boast of, but their wide leg space and the hot food more than compensates for it. The leg space is enough for a slim person to get into his seat without the need for other passengers to get out. The food is so far the best I had aboard any other airline. They might have had their share of trouble with the recent pilots fiasco but thats another story. They seem to splurge upon in their flights. For example, they give out sugar and milk sachets along with dinner. That means every one on board gets to have a sugar and milk sachet even if they are not gonna use them. Kingfisher on the other hand serves them along on the serving tray. So you pick milk and sugar as and when you want. KF surely save on some cost through that. But still hats off to Jet for the service and the food.
This was a little about my limited experience with the Indian Airliners.