Thoughts on Air Deccan? |
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May 16th, 2006, 11:51
| #1 |
| Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Posts: 2
| Thoughts on Air Deccan? I was about to book Indian domestic travel on Air Deccan, as it was cheapest, but then I did a few Google searches and discovered that they seem to have a rather poor reputation and their flights are often cancelled or delayed, e.g.: http://in.news.yahoo.com/060512/211/647c6.html http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=159473 http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/deccan.htm Given that I'm only spending two weeks in India next month and don't want my travel plans messed up, I'm planning to pay a premium (about US$100 total) to book tickets on Jet and Kingfisher instead. Any thoughts on this - am I overreacting, or doing the right thing? Thanks! |
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May 16th, 2006, 12:16
| #2 |
| bang a whore? Bangalore Dammit!  Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2,559
| As a new budget airline, they seem to have few aircraft and lots of delays. So, if any delay is going to throw your plans off kilter, I'd suggest another airline. Then again, there have been people who don't mind a few hours delay or even a day late. Apparently, it's the lack of communication coupled with the inability to trnsfer to another airline which seems to burn people with the air deccan staff.
__________________ Click here for the Indiamike train guide in PDF |
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May 16th, 2006, 17:45
| #3 |
| Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 20
| Jet is very expensive, and I tend to avoid that airline because of their discrimnatory pricing, i.e. foreigners pay twice as much. We used to take Air Deccan all the time because as you say it's very cheap. But, it will be late, which I hadn't minded so much, however the final straw for me was when they outright cancelled our flight on the day before a long weekend, and did not redirect us on another flight or airline. After scrambling to get another flight, we were then trapped in Goa (not a bad place to be stuck mind you) because they also cancelled our return trip the day we were to leave. No, I wouldn't chance it if I were you. It's pretty infuriating. Kingfisher so far for us has been pretty good. If you have a cell-phone, they'll send you an SMS if the flight is delayed. It is India, and sometimes, it's not the airline's fault that flights are delayed, so you do have to be patient. Last edited by ShantiShanti; May 16th, 2006 at 20:02.. |
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May 16th, 2006, 17:58
| #4 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Usually in a hotel room somewhere...
Posts: 248
| My friend and I flew with Air Deccan last year. A very smooth check-in and no delay at all! Although, the aircraft itself was a pretty horrible experience! I agree with ShantiShanti. Jet Airways is a very expensive airline and they have different fares depending whether you are a foreigner. We also have a very poor experience with them during our last trip. We bought two tickets, 170 USD each, and once we arrived at the airport we read on the TV-monitors our flight was cancelled! After having talked to a couple of representatives, they re-booked us to Indian Airlines, which was less nice due to the price of our tickets. As for Kingfisher, when we looked at their tickets we found out they were pretty expensive too. Perhaps you should consider Air Sahara or Spicejet? Spicejet is very good with extremely nice fares! diplomacy |
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May 16th, 2006, 18:16
| #5 |
| Bulk Carrier  Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chennai
Posts: 1,846
| Go Air has the cheapest tickets too...
__________________ ...and I took the road less travelled. |
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May 16th, 2006, 18:22
| #6 |
| Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 69
 | Air Deccan's Been Good to Me So Far I've flown only Air Deccan here in India. All the other airlines tickets I priced were always a lot more expensive, either because I was a foreigner or because I had to book a flight just a couple days in advance. Over these half-dozen or so flights, Air Deccan's been good. There have been delays, but they haven't been major and they've also been on occasions when other carriers have also been delayed. (Most airports here seem to be operating at near-maximum capacity, so delays are fairly common across the board.) Air Deccan will also SMS you if there's a delay, and I like to encourage their non-discriminatory pricing. That said, if you're only talking about spending $100 extra versus not messing up a whole vacation, then probably Kingfisher is a good bet. |
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May 16th, 2006, 18:55
| #7 |
| "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL"  Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NEW ORLEANS, USA
Posts: 168
| thatcertainjnsq Hi, I think that you will spend a lot more money unless you are an Indian or look like one, because they charge so much more for others. Are you only going one way somewhere one time only? Then maybe $100 will do. Gypsie  |
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May 16th, 2006, 18:59
| #8 |
| "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL" Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NEW ORLEANS, USA
Posts: 168
| john rambow Did you say that they do not charge extra for foreingners? Boy that would be great. Gypsie  |
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May 16th, 2006, 20:33
| #9 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Usually in a hotel room somewhere...
Posts: 248
| gypsie,lotus: Yes, very true! Air Deccan does not charge you anything extra for being a foreigner. Nor does SpiceJet! diplomacy |
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May 16th, 2006, 20:40
| #10 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2005 Location: Europe
Posts: 409
 | we took airdeccan from Coimbatore to Mumbai, in july 2006. 1. price was cheap, cheaper than 2A Train fare 2. no frills airline 3. no delay, we had a connecting flight to frankfurt that night. /////////////////////////////////////////// in case if you have to make an international connection, give yourself plenty of space else it was a good experience we had. good luckd dan |
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May 16th, 2006, 20:49
| #11 |
| "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL" Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NEW ORLEANS, USA
Posts: 168
| dan 37 just how much did you spend for the air Deccan plan ticket, was it in r/s or $ ? |
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May 16th, 2006, 23:51
| #12 |
| Guru  Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Hollywood
Posts: 4,729
| Air deccan is worth every penny. Yes, they run a tight ship -- with very little time in between flights -- and delays can cascade from one flight to another. However, I don't think their on-time perfomrance is much worse than the other airlines. However, the seating in some of their neweer aircrafts are extremely cramped. I won't mind paying a few extra rupees to fly another carrier on long flights. |
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May 17th, 2006, 00:02
| #13 | |
| Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Europe
Posts: 409
| Quote:
dan | |
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May 17th, 2006, 02:06
| #14 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Usually in a hotel room somewhere...
Posts: 248
| I agree that Air Deccan has very good fares and as with any low cost carrier, regardless of whereabouts: you get what you pay for. After having flown with Air Deccan, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and SpiceJet several times I can honestly say that I would fly low cost carrier again! Paying hundreds of dollars when there are cheaper alternatives is not worth it. Save the money and spend it on something else instead. You should still get from A to B! diplomacy |
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May 23rd, 2006, 02:51
| #15 |
| Back to Delhi =))  Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Finland
Posts: 164
| Hi! We have used Air Deccan 4 times now and haven´t had any problems. Only once has the flight been late but it was ok cause we didn´t have a connecting flight/train to catch. Our latest flight was from Chennai to Trivandrum and we actually paid only 1998,00 RS for the both of us (incl. taxes). Is that awesome or what  Recommend... but after reading about the delays etc. I really wouldn´t trust them if you have to catch your international flight or smth like that very soon etc... that would be too extreme -at least for me
__________________ Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. -Dr. Seuss My homeland  http://virtual.finland.fi/Picture_Book |
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