Airline experiences and quality

sudheer poppa

Inspired by some posts elsewhere ( Volga was it ) , I thought up on this subject to get thoughts on the airlines within India and connecting to India.

My thoughts

Air India - International airlines owned by Indian government. Rates - Not sure much on the rates as I always fly free. Service Quality - Poor, no more comments on it. Food - I rate them as fair. Ground service - Fair to average. Timeliness - Bad ( some would rate them as great now, if they experieced how bad they were 5 years back), Piloting - I think the only place where I would say they are above average. The captain gives some good commentary at times. On the whole, unless it is for the real cheap rates, I would never consider for long flights.

Indian Airlines - National (domestic) airlines owned by Indian government but they do have a good deal of international flights. Timeliness is fair compared to other domestic airlines but all other ratings similar to Air India. Can be given a fair thought for the good connections in India.

Alliance Air - Here just for namesake but is same as Indian Airlines.

Jet airways - Private owned. Rates - I think domestic rates are almost same for all airlines (again a free bird). Service Quality - Good- I think they are a bit stingy still good. Food - Best to the extent I know. Ground service - Best in India. Timeliness - Above average, Piloting - Average. On the whole, with other factors remaining the same I would choose them over any other indian option.

Sahara airlines - Private owned. Rates - Similar to Jet and others, but have good bundle offers for Indians. Service Quality - Good. Food- Average, Sometimes they beat jet, but still average. Ground service - Average. Timeliness - Fair basis feedback from others, Piloting - Average. My second choice after Jet.

Air Deccan - Private owned budget air line covering only the south India. Not yet tried but rates are cheapest for the international traveller as Indians have the option of auctions or deep discounted early purchase fare in other airlines.

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volga_volga

sudheer, you resolved the mystery that bothered me since a year ago: something that I always wanted to know but was afraid to ask. That is, what is the diff btw Air India and Indian Airlines.

Well, I have only used Jet Airways of all the airlines mentioned and this is what I have to say:

the best looking air hostesses!! (trust me I am objective) but watch out for these heels

not very friendly and caring though, too young for that

(air crew can make or break the flight, btw, esp a long one)

food - above avg, from int'l traveller perspective. loved apples given at the end of the dinner on Mumbai-Delhi flight, this is really clever. don't like that so far the only non-veg option was chicken. Oh, and love the coffee sweets served in the beginning of the flight! where can I get exactly the same ones in retail?

punctuality - of the three flights I have taken only one was delayed, by one hour

price - non-residents are severely discriminated!! prices are comparable to regional travel within Europe... on the other hand, flexibility is amazing, can book at these inflated prices at a very short notice and change the flight at no cost

sudheer poppa

On Airlines connecting to India I would like to talk about the below

1) Singapore airlines - Great airlines to fly with. Good inflight and ground service. Supposed leaders in customer service ( though I think they overdo it sometimes, so will start another thread about airline experiences), good attention to detail, Can recommend for long haul flight ( remember I am saying "can" and not using "recommending"). Easy airline with good service.

2) Cathay Pacific - (hongkong based) This can be a surprise to many, is my favourite !!! They are supposed to copy anything that singapore airlines do, but they infact better singapore airlines in most of the things which they do. Great service ( at the right level), good inflight entertainments ( always working !!!) and great infrastructure. My best recommendation for long hauls.

3) China eastern - Only one experience which was very good. But not giving many comments here as its still too early days. The journey I took was a lot more in lines with Singapore airlines or Cathay and a lot better than Air India. But be careful with those English communcations :-)

Thats all for now. As I have not traveled many other airlines in recent years dont want to comment on the experiences of those days.

-m2-

Of the domestic airlines, I've only flown IA and Jet and basically concur with your assessment, sudheer. The problems with IA and AI seem to stem from their government-owned status -- bureaucractic, inefficient, aging fleet due to reluctance to provide capital to update while the government ponders privatisation. I'm curious as to whether Deccan extends their lower fares to non-residents as it could be a very good option as they expand their network.

I think volga is correct about a kind-of priority for customers paying the inflated US$ prices, (makes sense) as I've made it on to a flight or two when wait-listed and others were left behind. I'm curious as to whether the dual-pricing is still a government mandated thing, (it began years ago when the Rupee plunged against the dollar after exchange controls were relaxed) or just something the airlines have gotten used to and are reluctant to give up.

As to international airlines, there are dozens which land in India, but since I fly via the Pacific I am more familiar with the Asian airlines which are all pretty good. I haven't flown with Cathay for a number of years, but agree it is/was very good. I've flown Singapore the past two years and have found it excellent and the reputation justified -- one big 'plus' is that they fly 777's with 3-3-3 seating so with the inner aisle seats you rarely have anyone crawling over you; it is also handy in that it flys to many different Indian cities directly, opening up many useful 'open-jaw' possibilities. (Silk Air, their subsidiary flies to several more southern destinations, and they partner with Jet).

Due to a generous milage program and low prices, I flew with Korean for many years (mainly as far as BKK, as they have only a twice a week service to Mumbai). Service is reasonable, but a notch below Cathay and Singapore (a significant indicator at this level is 'do they serve wine in glass or plastic cups' and Korean fails this test ) and there is an overall aura that is slightly down-market.

volga_volga

I am afraid I have too much interest in this airline topic... but to comment on the Intl ones landing in India:

Cathay - I haven't used it but my boss (who flies long-haul to Asia every month) does not accept any other... as he is very demanding I must assume they are really good.

Emirates - v.good, food, service and esp in-flight entertainment. Dubai airport can be busy at times, and you need to go through security to change gates and may queue for a whole hour there! eating is rather expensive in Dubai airport but good selection of english language magazines

Gulf Air - one level down from Emirates and very modest Abu Dhabi airport facilities. cheaper in price though

(I believe the stop over airport is also important)

I am flying with Air France this Thursday... my boss hates them. but, on the other hand, he is British

a good website to read airline reviews is
skytrax

rgds

Volga

Wanderer22

M2,

I recall that you mentioned stopping over in Singapore on one of your trips. Did this work out well? Think you commented that the airline covered this for some reason???

Wanderer22

-m2-

W22 - yes, the Singapore airlines flight from YVR arrives at night and the connecting flights to India all leave the following evening, so the airline provides a hotel and ground transportation (but not meals). The night's stop is VERY welcome, and the provided room was at a very nice, well located, boutique hotel (Albert Court), though I think they also use some others as well. You won't be offered the free hotel if you are breaking your flight in Singapore anyway -- only if you are in transit.

guerik

Would also like to mention:

JAL - great, service is excellent, food is good (from memory flights going to india have indian food and to japan have japanese) and prices are pretty good (2nd cheapest to fly out of Australia in most cases). Flew four different legs with them last visit and none were delayed.

sudheer poppa

Some answers for the question above.

The inflated rates for domestic airlines is more due economic reasons than government controls these days. On the whole the domestic airline rates are quite high due to the government's view that this is a niche sector and should be milked well. Actually in a country where about 70% of the population hardly pays any tax to the government, state need to target the upper niche of the leftover tax payers to squeeze out income. This they do by ensuring high operating costs to the domestic airlines - like licence fees, airport service charges, aviation fuel costs etc. But with market economy pushing up the need for air travel, airlines started to target the people who travel by first class and air conditioned classes in Trains. These are people who book their ticket well in advance and hence the airlines started early options and Air Sahara pioneered auctions. This proved very successful and all domestic airlines joined the band wagon and started offering early purchase discount and now even Air India is offering international tickets in auctions - but all only to their target audience, the indian upper middle class.

Air Deccan the new entrant is the typical budget airline, which tries to economise everything ( you have to buy your meals on board) by flying to many airports in single day thereby saving on fixed costs. They have single cheap rates to all (including foreigners) and should not be confused with the discounted rates of other airlines. But the major disadvantage is that they operate only in a limited geography ( key to keeping their costs down) and service levels will be - well down to earth ( but not really that important given the fact that their flights are all short haul of about an hour or so)

There is however some targeted discounts offered by jet airways for international travellers. This is detailed in the below link, but cannot be availed with their visit india fares, which I feel is quite competitive for a short trip to india covering many places.

Url for the jet airways discounts availble for intnl trvlrs page ONLY youth offer (12 - 29 year olds) and senior citizen offer ( above 65years)
http://www.jetairways.com/home.asp?s...cessionalfares

Url for the visit india fare for for intnl trvlrs
http://www.jetairways.com/exclusiveo...indiafares.asp

vinayverma

Hmm...interesting discussion
My fav in Domestic will be (as if I have a great choice)
1, Jet
2, IA
3. Sahara

International:
1. Emirates ( great service and excellent hostess)
2. Singapore ( Service and inflight entertainment)
3. Cathay ( Gr8 ground and inflight services)
4. Lufthansa ( I prefer this for Europe)
5. SriLankan (excelent pakage deals including free stay at Colombo)
6. Thai (good service)
7. Air India ( Cheap, good food, good if you want to sleep, they don't bother u much and don't belive in pampering their customers)

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SHIMLA

Jet is better than IA as far as punctuality and service are concerned. The smiles on the faces of the young hostesses of Jet are as genuine as the frowns on the faces of the "elderly" hostesses of IA.

Among the international airlines, I've only flown Emirates and the Myanmar domestic airline Air Mandalay(qualifies as an International airline to an Indian!) and have no complaints with either!

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A boon for every armchair traveller.

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sudheer poppa

Back to talk about Singapore Airlines overdoing the customer service bit of it.

I was travelling from Beijing to Singapore and Singapore to Chennai. By default my travel agent requested for vegetarian meal (as he assumed all Indians are vegetarians) and just before my onward journey I got him to cancel the request as I wanted to relish on the flavours of the orient . But he did it only for the onward journey and missed to cancel it for the return leg.

In the Beijing-Singapore fligth when I was served vegetarian meal, I realised my agents goof up and requested them if I can go for the non veg option. ( I have been flying way too long to know that they carry a good buffer stock). The air hostess agreed with the warm smile and bought me a yummy sea food meal.

A little later the hostess, returned to me and told me that as I was flying onward to Chennai, if I want to cancel my vegetarian meal request for that leg ? WoW - They went and checked it up. Great service. I was really appreciative of their thought and then confirmed that I would like to get it changed.

Then was a request to sign a paper that I do not want the veg meal in the onward sector. Paperwork a thousand feet up in the sky but hey who cares. I was still overwhelmed at the attention they were giving to my need.

20 minutes later the chief of cabin crew came to me and told me that they are trying to inform the Singapore office to cancel my vegetarian meal but they cannot guarantee the same. I told them to relax and said I dont mind having a veg meal if they cannot cancel the same.

About an hour later I got another update that my meal request has been conveyed to the Singapore office and they are waiting for the response.

And finally the communication officer ( or one of the pilots) came to me with a print out saying that my request for cancelling the veg meal has been accepted and I shall be served the standard meal options. !!!

It was almost like a football commentary on what is happening to my request at each leg. Sure this is a hell lot better than the Air India hostess to whom I have had to remind 3 times to get a glass of warm water ( which finally when, delivered was plain water and not warm !!!) but when I am flying for 6 hours and trying my best to get a little sleep do I need such a commentary on my request? They are well aware of the additional stock of meals carried in the air craft, still do they have to be soo attentive inspite of me downplaying the need each time they spoke to me? Was it customer service or a show of customer service ? Tough to decide.

Basis my experiece unless it is Cathay, SIA is my choice by default to fly in Asia. Still cannot ignore them overdoing service at many other instances as well.

One major exception on how low their service can go is the Chennai Singapore sector, when their hostess actually turn into an authoritarian school teacher mode ( as against the default smiling Singapore girl mode) more in lines with the Air India standard. Talk about differential treatment or whatever, I do not believe in much mud-slinging and hence reserve my comments on that sector with this.

Thoughts anybody ?

And for those interested - I did get my chicken biryani in the Singapore Chennai sector.

Ja~martini34

what about luftshansa airlines????????????? are they good?and americian air?
Ja martini34

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bijapuri

I found SIA better video quality than Cathay, and food also better. However, Cathay has the best connections from SFO to DEL, only an hour or so layover in HKK (no time for $3 starbucks!!!)and it's a shorter haul. We saved 7 hours, and I think it was $100 cheaper. For that I'll take 5 grainy movies!

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