A YetiGuide® to Airlines, Airports and Domestic Air Travel

[blueraven316]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

It's not off topic at all. And no, not that I know of.

Thanks. Twentycharacters

[kuttapan]

Airline experiences -

Air India - My experience was in 2003, in the gulf sector. Since most passengers are not-so-educated labourers etc. the 40-something aunties were very rude and I gave them a mouthful and vowed never to fly Air-India again.

Indian - Much better. Again in the gulf sector. Will travel again.

Sahara(Now Jetlite) - My only business class travel yet. Nothing particularly impressive about it , but no complaints either.

Air France - Good, especially after experiencing Lufthansa in the same sector. Leg room is not so good, but.

Lufthansa - Fly Air France if available in the same sector. Lack of entertainment(personal) is appalling, to say the least. Leg room is horrible, for a 10 hour flight.

Austrian - Budget airline, charges you for food. Nothing to write home about.

Air Lingus - So So...

Looking forward to my first Kingfisher experience. After reading Sam's review, I am itching for it.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by panky12345

just an update, I did DEL-SFO some time back on JAL (Japan Air Lines); transit of a day in Japan with stay in a five star hotel. Excellent service, bad food. CHEAPEST FARE AT THAT TIME.

When...? Singapore Airlines is very very expensive!

[hellspawn]

@sam-woah!!!you are awesome dude.
how about launching "a yetiguide:how to....".it could be the next ".blah blah..for dummies"

[panky12345]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

When...? Singapore Airlines is very very expensive!

It was last year around July on JAL. Did I say Singapore Airlines?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by hellspawn

@sam-woah!!!you are awesome dude.
how about launching "a yetiguide:how to....".it could be the next ".blah blah..for dummies"

You know, that might be the series of books I've always wanted to write. Thanks for that idea. I might use it

[Wheeliej]

Airline experiences :

Indian - Innumerable flights on domestic sectors - Experience is good, food is much better now as compared to when I first started regular air travel about 15 years ago. Its been some time since I travelled Indian though. Bangalore-Singapore used to be bad since they flew an A320 on that route. The seats dont accommodate even a 5 ft nothing tall person comfortably. You have to ask for a cushion. They used to have an elderly lady for in-flight service among their crew. The other crew members were quite dismissive of her, but I was quite fond of her. Wonder if she is still around. For an international route, there was zero entertainment; not even a single common screen for movies. Not even newspapers are provided. Flights were cheaper as compared to Singapore Airlines and they had daily flights (back then - as compared to SIA).

Air India - Old planes and sad entertainment system (if you can call it that). But I have always felt quite comfortable on an Air India flight. Attentive cabin crew make up for the old planes.

Jet Airways - Efficient, smart cabin crew, mostly on-time.

Kingfisher - Havent taken too many flights on KF, but very efficient. There was an instance when I had a bad cough and a temperature when I boarded and I asked for hot water to drink to soothe my throat. The cabin crew were very helpful and asked a couple of times more if I wanted hot water.

Air Deccan - Taken only a couple of them. Wasnt delayed on those occassions. However, had to collect a cousin who was travelling BBy-Blr and reached at 3 a.m instead of 10 p.m. I guess with Air Deccan you are quite safe if you take an early morning flight as compared to a late evening one.

SpiceJet - Have travelled a bit on this more recently. Bookings are easy to handle on their website, Flights have been on-time and they have convenient timings (9 a.m flight instead of 5.45 a.m from Bby to Blr route).

Indigo - Messed up on my boarding pass (issued me one of a person seated next to me whose last name also started with 'jag') and then waited until I reached the gate (1 hour later) to inform me. I had to trudge back all the way to the counter to get a fresh boarding pass. Not a pleasant experience.

Singapore Airlines - Best of the lot, no question about it. Before my latest trip, I would have said 'always on time', but during a recent trip to Singapore, the flight took off 5 hours late from Bangalore (wouldnt have minded it so much on the way back) and it was hell at our so-called international airport. When we reached the airport for check-in the flight had not yet taken off from Singapore. they could quite easily have called up and asked passengers to come in 3 hours later for check-in comfortably instead of fighting weekend traffic, rains, idiots at the airport who took up the entire arrival lounge area (to escape the rain) while seeing off their relatives and who were not allowing passengers to enter, etc. Having said that, travelling by SIA is always pleasant, their entertainment systems are the best with the latest movies, tv serials and games to keep up. they also permit check-in upto 48 hours before flight takes off @ Singapore, which is convenient.

Malaysian Airlines - Tries to copy Singapore Airlines (as is usual for all things Malaysian) and gets most of it right. Got upgraded once from Business class to First class and really enjoyed the experience.

Lufthansa - I think I can recall only one flight and that was not very pleasant. The cabin crew behaves very derisively towards us brown-skinned people though we may be travelling business class. That really puts me off.

Air France - Same as above on the cabin crew.

British Airways - Same as above on the cabin crew

Qantas - Same as above on the cabin crew. Check-in staff will give priority to fair-skinned people when allotting seats and we always get stuck in the middle seats. How I hate that.

Some American airlines - Avoidable; nothing to write home about. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

Facilities at airports (those that I remember) :
Singapore : again, best of the lot, no question about it. Lots to do and plenty of space to do it in. Extremely good and cheap connection to the city via train. I like the overnight storage facility which is cheap and efficient (both before and after immigration).

Kualalumpur : not as much space, but very efficient. Their visa-on-arrival (except when travelling from Chennai to KL) is good. good connection to the city via train, but not exactly cheap. Storing baggage is available, but quite expensive.

American : person collecting you can come right up to the baggage collection area (that is good, gives you some time to catch up while your baggage arrives). None of the airports permit baggage to be stored after 9/11 and that is a loss. I like to hop onto different cities when I visit and dont really want to cart ALL my luggage around. One more thing - dont wear Indian gold (bangles for women), they make the security machine ping like crazy and you have to go thru security check again thus wasting precious time.

Indian - That is a trick category since Indian airports have NO facilities. As Sam says "Nada". Bangalore airports have a Sankar's book stall which is the best thing that you can find there. Book stalls in Bombay terminals are terribly overpriced. Delhi airport (1A, I think) has an art gallery in a corner. I have filed many complaints with the Airports Authority about the lack of toilet paper in the toilets but they will NEVER improve. Instead they sometimes have attendants to hand you a piece of toilet paper that wont suffice to clean your nose and they expect to be tipped for that . It is a pet peeve of mine @ Indian airports. I have to ensure that I carry my own stock.

Ok, this post is already too long; so will stop.

[Rtech]

Interesting experience with Air Deccan yesterday. They were actually early! Landed 20 minutes early! But then, just to make sure to remind us that we were on Deccan, we had to wait for a good 20 minutes before the bags showed up! You win some, you lose some!

[srisha]

This is a very interesting thread. Have been following this thread for the last couple of weeks.

I also regularly follow this website mentioned below, which is dedicated to Airport and Airline review from passengers around the world and has some very interesting reviews about airlines. It covers almost all the airlines and airports in the world.

happy travelling.

link- World Airline and Airport Passenger Opinion forums

Srisha

[Sam Kapasi]

Did they have soap in the toilets Rtech?

[santhosh_kumard]

There are lots of brickbats thrown at AirDeccan (AD). Initially as when the airlines was launched, even I was apprehensive of the situation, but I am a frequent traveler between Coimbatore and Bangalore, and I should say, never in my dozen flights in this year , there has been a delay more than say 5 mins on both the directions. Except for the BLR-MUM sector I have not heard of bad experiences. Yes the checkin is so damn slow, but if you can reach 45 mins prior to actual departure you are all set and safe. And after merger with Kingfisher ( I guess that is the reason ) they give water to passengers! /* Not a big deal ,still */. And one of the legs my flight was cancelled, but I was intimated a day in advance and I was able to prepone my flight easily.

Now another experience. Myself and my gf were travelling from GOA to BLR and I was with Indian and she was with AD. Now the Indian flight was delayed by 1:15 hrs !!!, and these folks served me the junkest (sic) food I ever tasted. AD was precisely on time. Thank god , the scheduled departure was 1:30 hours in between, I had to wait for only 15 mins in BLR to pick her up ( should I say thanks to Indian now, since GOA a-port is much better than BLR ? ).

Well I am not supporting AD, but I guess for short hauls I guess AD works as good as others..... hmmm mostly

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Did they have soap in the toilets Rtech?

Don't know. Didn't check. But the non-reclining seats were terrible. BTW, I never did get any water! What is this free water people keeping talking about!

[Sam Kapasi]

Well I think AD would offer free water only as a response to Go and Indigo and Spice who give free water and they are just as economic.

[saurabh159]

Hi,
A small query to all you great travellers !!!
Today i am going from Delhi to Mumbai but as i am new to delhi, i dont know whether parking facility for car is available at the airport or not. If yes, what are the charges, i may need to park it for 3 days !!!
Please help !!!
Its urgent, i was unable to find this info anywhere !!!!!!!!!!!

[panky12345]

You may park the car at new delhi.....charges would be tooooo high for 3 days. better is contact any pvt taxi operator, he would charge Rs. 250/- to drop.