Good Times - Kingfisher Experience

Desi Fun(da)
I have been thinking about flying by one of the new airlines for some time now. Recently I got the chance to fly from Bangalore to Mumbai on Kingfisher Airlines part of the UB group owned by Dr. Vijay Mallya. It was a good experience and here are some titbits.

- The crew is really helpful. Right from the checkin to the boarding everyone seemed to have a smile on and that was very nice.
- Everything went on smoothly
- The new A320s were awesome and loved the brand new look. I've travelled on a lot of airlines but I think this was the first time I ever was on a brand new plane. yipeee!!
- The on board crew was coordial and good.
- Meals served were probably the best I've had on an aircraft. Genuinely Indian food meant for the Indian palette ie well cooked with decent amount of spices.
- On board entertainment was good with the tv and radio thing going on
- Small goodie bag given to each passenger was a nice touch
- On flight magazine "Hi" is cool as well with tons of pretty damsels posted all over it. Dude you forgot to type in their tel.nos. though :) Amisha Patel you around?
- With 90% occupancy on my to and fro trip I think it is doing well.

Some points for Dr. Mallya
- Get "Good Times" registered as a trademark slogan. It just sounds awesome
- I aint a fool Dr. Mallya. Kingfisher Radio is just 10 cd's rolling continuously and the TV channels are the same. If you decide to slim down on the channels keep the cds for audio channels 1-4 throw the rest.
- Too many people around your planes. Maybe you are overstaffed?
- Your service will definitely want you to hike up rates otherwise you wont last long.
- Your choice of airhostesses is not on par with what I expected it to be. Or maybe I mistook you for having good taste in the fairer sex.

All in all I loved the experience of the "Good Times". Its all fine right now but I will bet Dr. Mallya will have to cut costs down to keep it competitive. Right now it will give Air India and Jet Airways a run for their money but if it wants to be a leader cheaper or cheapest is always the mantra in India. Now its upto you whether you want sonny boy to inherit a fleet of aircraft or an airlines.

Till then my cheers to the good times.