Carriers in the Indian Skies - A Candid Comparison

Desi Fun(da)

Well over the past few months I have flown in many of the new carriers that have invaded the Indian skies. The list of airlines who have enjoyed my business, and in true desi fashion have not bothered to thank me at all, are as follows and ofcourse it is accompanied by my list of cribbs and kudos.

1. Indian (formerly Indian Airlines)

Kudos

good food
pleasant service
very frequent flights
superb connectivity
experienced engineers and hence safer planes
national domestic carrier
allows decent amount of baggage

Cribbs

the changed name and colors aren't enough
airhostesses are not hot enough
green seat covers and not appealing
online booking portal is not user-friendly
not much legroom

2. Jet Airways

Kudos

hot airhostesses
good connectivity
international flights
experienced crew
allows decent amount of baggage

Cribbs

jet-sahara deal devalued my stock by ~20k
too high fares
not much legroom

3. Kingfisher

Kudos

bought in strong competition to the big boys
superb food
friendly crew and staff
focussing on service
classy uniforms
introduced very easy online booking
slab fares
brand new A320s
allows decent amount of baggage

Cribbs

airhostesses couldve been hotter
slab fares again
not much legroom

4. GoAir

Kudos

classy online booking
choice of seat online while booking itself

Cribbs

seats get expensive as you book closer to the departure date
yucky flourescent uniforms under navy blue vests and pants
leased aircrafts
not much legroom
allows only 15kgs baggage - excess is at Rs70/kg

5. SpiceJet

Kudos

good service
friendly and smiling crew and staff
serving cookies and water onboard instead of whole meals - cost-effective and sensical for Indian flight durations
brand new Boeing 737-800s
good legroom
good looking airhostesses

Cribbs

those Boeings are hideous and make too much noise
allows only 10kgs baggage

6. Air Deccan

Kudos

very economical and made flying possible for a large section of Indians

(30-40% of its flyers are first time flyers)

very creative advertising techniques employed for additional captial generation
online booking is decent

Cribbs

leased aircrafts - most of them look as-if they were picked off a airline scrap yard
no service at all
heavy last-minute cancellations and rescheduling of flights
don't even serve water onflight - everything has to be purchased
sad and depressing airhostesses
not assigning seat numbers ie you can pick any seat as you board the flight
allows only 15kgs baggage - excess is at Rs70/kg

Well there is no guessing which one is my favourite and which ones I'd rather not entrust my life with. All in all I feel safety is of the paramount importance to me while I fly and there is nothing else that matters especially while flying within the subcontinent. The flight durations are around an hour to an hour and a half and food and other things don't matter much. If an airline promises me safety at a reasonable price and throws in some goodies and eye-candy with it I would definitely shell out the extra amount to have a thoughtless journey. On the other hand the various low cost carriers have definitely helped bring air travel to the common man and cost will always remain of paramount importance to many of us Indians. I wish all the carriers well and am sure that there are sufficient customers to feed all their fat bellies in our country.



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