[V.Narayan]

Satish Shah's response to Heathrow's pigeon shit

I replied with a proud smile “because we are Indians” after I overheard the Heathrow staff wonderingly asking his mate”how can they afford 1st class?”

https://twitter.com/sats45/status/16...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Veteran actor Satish Shah recently took to his Twitter to share his experience on the Heathrow airport in the UK. The actor stated that he overheard a staff at the premise discussing with his colleague how people like Satish Shah could afford a first class ticket, presumably a remark at his ethnicity.

Shah wrote that he responded he could afford the expensive ticket because he is an ‘Indian.’ His full tweet read, “I replied with a proud smile ‘because we are Indians’ after I overheard the Heathrow staff wonderingly asking his mate ‘how can they afford 1st class?'” As soon as he shared the tweet, many users reacted to his post while asserting their identity as a proud Indians. One wrote, “I would’ve added one more line- ‘Get used to it’.” Another person commented, “You could have also told them, come and see our Delhi and Hyderabad airports and decide where Heathrow stands. I recently transited via Heathrow. It is like our old Mumbai airport,” even as another person mentioned, “Next time please add one more line that whatever they are affording today is also because of Indian money, their ancestors looted.”

This I can relate to. I have only travelled through Heathrow once on a first class ticket one Sunday in April 2015. It was bad enough that the check-in clerk was some combination of surly and rude* their Concorde lounge was absolutely pathetic in terms of service. Just for the context all my international travel since 1997 has been in business and occasionally first. First only in case of airline upgrades or on two occasions because I needed to fly urgently and little else was available. So these lounges are familiar territory & I'm no rookie. The uninterestedness, the snarly responses and the almost zero service had to be seen to be believed*. I mean even Air France's lounge at CDG, known for its well honed racist rudeness to blackies and brownies, is better. Once on board, I will say to their credit that the cabin service was what is expected in first class.

Closer home, the old Air India, had what was probably absolutely the worst first class service ex-India. It was tuned around the needs of ego gratification and fawning of bureaucrats and politicos but items on the menu would not be available, the morbid entertainment was half broken etc. For their sake I hope they improve. But till some of the old 'sarkari' mindset crew don't exit it will be an uphill struggle.

While we Indians chaff under racist behaviour we encounter in the West. I would not at all be surprised if black Africans visiting India deal with the same nonsense from us.

* one good that came out is that, irritated as I was, I wrote a post on the Boeing 747 while at that miserable lounge. Here it is - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ml#post3689276 (Boeing 747: End of the Jumbo Jet era?)

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

2) Avoid Kuwait Airways like a plague unless you live in Kuwait and need a direct flight.

They seem to get even worse:

Kuwait Airways Forces Interviewees To Strip Down To Underwear

Kuwait Airways is under fire for its interview process in Spain, whereby recruiters allegedly required employees to strip down to their underwear. While Gulf carriers have strict rules around appearance, this takes is to the extreme.


I do remember there was not a single female flight attendant maybe thats why:

if they weren’t young, and/or if they weren’t female, they were immediately eliminated; the recruiters outright said that they don’t hire men from outside Kuwait


https://onemileatatime.com/news/kuwa...iew-underwear/

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

They seem to get even worse:

Kuwait Airways Forces Interviewees To Strip Down To Underwear

Kuwait Airways is under fire for its interview process in Spain, whereby recruiters allegedly required employees to strip down to their underwear. While Gulf carriers have strict rules around appearance, this takes is to the extreme.


I do remember there was not a single female flight attendant maybe thats why:

if they weren’t young, and/or if they weren’t female, they were immediately eliminated; the recruiters outright said that they don’t hire men from outside Kuwait


https://onemileatatime.com/news/kuwa...iew-underwear/

This might seem shocking to others but I'm not at all surprised by this having lived there! Hate to generalize or worse, sound racist but the behaviour of Kuwaitis almost seems to derive sadistic pleasure at others' miserable suffering. I will not give examples given the forum and the fact that this is an aviation thread. Nothing matters more than your skin colour and Indians are treated as a labourer/house maid even if they are a CEO. I mean, they make the Saudis look good, the working class Saudis are genuinely friendly and hospitable many a times. This might seem like a general problem of the Gulf but having lived in most Gulf countries except Qatar, trust me, Kuwait is worse!

Anyway, this reminds of the incident where some Australian women were strip-searched in Qatar.

Western countries have their follies too, a guy I know was pinned to the floor in the US because some dogs started barking suspecting drugs. Turned out they were just flowers for pooja. The TSA guys who pinned him to the floor started laughing and let him go without even an apology. Meanwhile, white folks visiting India get mad when the CISF guys ask them to empty their bags and grumble about it (video below) !? Talk about entitlement! CISF is ages better and more courteous than the American TSA, anyday (unless you are white)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5cDnWqlTnY

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Western countries have their follies too, a guy I know was pinned to the floor in the US because some dogs started barking suspecting drugs. Turned out they were just flowers for pooja. The TSA guys who pinned him to the floor started laughing and let him go without even an apology.

The entitled attitude of Westerners when they come to Asia / India is well documented. You should see how they grumble and complain when they have to fill out the declaration forms at immigration counter at Delhi T3. Like they are doing India a favour by visiting.

I know several folks who went to the airport without knowing that you need a visa to enter India. The conversations at the airport check in counter is truly hilarious. Entitlement at its finest and worst on display.

I know this thread is about airlines, but the TSA truly is a league of its own in ineptitude. But nothing beats the surly attitude of JFK immigration officers sitting behind glass desks in bulletproof vests with holstered guns.

The rudeness and condescension they display towards anyone who is not holding an American passport is mind boggling.

[mchandra13]

Loving this thread. Thanks Narayan Sir for starting this thread and sharing your experiences

I started flying only after I started working. My first flight was with Jet airways from BLR to DEL. This was a connection to a US flight from Delhi and I still remember that Swiss has given me a food voucher for the buffet in Radisson hotel in Delhi and have arranged for drop and pick up thru complimentary shuttles. This is because my wait time in Delhi was greater than 5 hours. For a first time traveler that was super experience. Since then I have flown frequently for both work and personal reasons and have tried multiple airlines across different parts of the world

One story from my travels - In Dec 2002, I was supposed to travel from NYC to BLR. The original route was supposed to be EWR - ZRH - BOM - BLR(as BLR didnt have direct international flights at that time). Since it was an official travel, I pressurized my travel team to confirm the booking. But due to holidays, they could not confirm this route and gave me an altered route EWR - CDG - ZRH - BOM - BLR and asked me to collect the tickets from the Swiss office in NYC(in those days, we were still using those booklets if anyone remembers). When I went to the office to collect the ticket, they changed the route further and gave itinerary of EWR - ATL - CDG - ZRH - DXB - BOM - BLR. Since it was just 2 days away I couldn't do much and accepted the itinerary. Things went fine till I reached Paris. I reached there by 6AM and went to the ticketing desk to enquire about my flight as it was not showing up on the board yet. They checked my ticket and asked me if I am ok to take an earlier flight to Zurich. I was naïve and said ok. So they changed my flight from 9AM Swiss to 7:20AM Air France which I took and landed in Zurich. Now Swiss was not properly informed about this change. Then I got into my next flight to Dubai from Zurich. But that flight got delayed by close to 45 mins since they were waiting for a few passengers arriving from Barcelona. By the time I landed in DXB, my flight to Mumbai left. However Swiss booked me into another flight one hour later and sent me to Mumbai. Once I landed in Mumbai, one of my bags somehow came thru and another went missing. I reached out to Swiss manager in the airport at 12:30AM in the night. He checked in the system and indicated that it will reach Mumbai in the same flight next day. I told him that I cannot wait till the next day as I was catching the first flight out of Mumbai to BLR at 3AM(Jet airways). He then asked me to clear customs of the missing bag as well so that he can get it delivered to my home in BLR. Since I didn't remember what all things I have in which bag, I have to list all the items I am carrying which included electronics as well. The customs guy started demanding $100 to clear customs. I negotiated it down to $30 and paid the same to him and asked the Swiss manager to take note of the same and get the customs cleared for the bag in my absence. He made note of the officer and made sure he cleared the customs next day and delivered the bag to my home in BLR by 11PM the next day. After the entire ordeal, I was pleasantly surprised by the customer service from Swiss team.

Vistara domestically and SQ on US route are my current preferred airlines. Since a lot has been already talked about most of the airlines I traveled, I will just mention a few here

JAL - I tried JAL once to travel from Delhi to LAX. JAL are good but are very slow in service. The only time I traveled with them, my agent botched up my request for veg food and they didn't have anything remotely vegetarian. Also Tokyo Narita is a grave yard for vegetarians. As good as the airport was, I paid $15 for bread omelet in the airport. To my bad luck I had a 8 hr layover with a 5 yr old kid with me in Narita and it was the most difficult time I ever had in an airport.
Avianca - its a Colombian based LCC. They are one of the better LCCs I have traveled in. They sell seats in an interesting way. They sell seats in the sizes from XS to XL where XL is the business class and XS is the no frills economy. For a LCC, their seats and leg space are above average. I really liked their service approach both on and off the flight. They have leather seats and often have IFE screen behind the seats with decent entertainment options. To my surprise they served meals in routes where United/Delta just provide a snack and a drink.
AeroMexico - They are the flag carrier full service airline which advertises that food and drinks are always free on the flight. I think they are an all Boeing fleet airline. They were pretty decent in the routes I have flown from US. They always have full service of meals and drinks.
While there are other good airlines like Copa airlines in the region, all routes between LATAM and US are dominated by the US carriers like Delta/United/American.
- Spirit airlines in US is by far the worst airline I have traveled anywhere in the world. Their seats are like the hard plastic seats we find in the hospital waiting rooms in India. If not for FAA regulations and safety, they will even allow travel by standing. This is like the good old red bus in the air. Their modular pricing is one of the worst and stacks up equivalent to a normal airline if you want all the default facilities provided by a normal airline. Frontier comes a close second but they have better flights. In front of Spirit, Ryan Air can look like a luxury airline

Some trivia I gathered over my travels
- The longest domestic non-stop flight is between St.Denis in Reunion to Paris with around 9300KMs. Reunion is an island in Indian ocean owned by France. However this route flies over other countries' air space enroute. Tahiti to Paris was the longest route for a short duration in Mar-Apr 2020 since US objected to stopover(due to pandemic) in LAX/SFO, which is the normal route. It was temporary route and stopped after Apr 2020
- If we discount flights flying over other countries' airspace, then JFK to Honolulu is the longest domestic non-stop flight with around 8000KMs
- Atlanta continues to be busient airport both in terms of passenger volume and the number of flights. If we consider just international flights, DXB is the busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger volume. From India, Delhi features in the top 20 airports in the world in terms of passenger volume
- The baggage crew in Blr airport mark bags with a cross mark using a chalk to indicate to the customs officials to check for such bags. I heard that such a practice started in Hyd as well
- LAX is the worst airport I have seen, in terms of the traffic and the time taken to cover the last mile before we reach the arrival/departure area of the airport(ingress and egress from the airport). On average, it takes 30-45 mins to cover 1-2 kms after you reach the airport area. The easiest I have seen in a major city airport is in Pune where you can walk out of the airport and pick an auto in 5 mins. Pune still uses the military airport for commercial airlines.
- NYC and London are the only 2 cities with 6 commercial airports with in the metro area. If we consider the Trenton airport, NYC would have 7. Los Angeles have 5 airports. If we consider San Bernardino airport which is used by only one airline, the Los Angeles would also have 6. Tokyo, Stockholm, Moscow all have 4 airports and I think even Paris have 4.
- Tijuana international airport at the border of US and Mexico is the only airport, that I know of, which can be accessed by the citizens of two major countries. While the airport is in Mexico, there is a pedestrian bridge called cross border express which allows for US nationals to cross into US directly and clear US immigration instead of going into Mexico. This is a very unique airport which provides access to US Citizens to the low cost Latam airlines at cheaper prices.
- Flying over the pacific requires flights certified with ETOPS and pilots trained for the same. This means the aircraft should have atleast 2 engines and should be capable of flying atleast 180 mins with a single engine. This is because there are not many large islands in the pacific for large part of the ocean. There are some specially designated small islands apart from the small island nations, where flights in distress can land and it takes an estimated 3 hrs min from any point over pacific to reach a nearest island.

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Western countries have their follies too, a guy I know was pinned to the floor in the US because some dogs started barking suspecting drugs. Turned out they were just flowers for pooja. The TSA guys who pinned him to the floor started laughing and let him go without even an apology. Meanwhile, white folks visiting India get mad when the CISF guys ask them to empty their bags and grumble about it (video below) !? Talk about entitlement! CISF is ages better and more courteous than the American TSA, anyday (unless you are white)!

I have seen videos of this guy and he is an eternal cribber. So we need to ignore his reviews and videos. Unruly passengers and arrogant airline/ground staff are a reality in all parts of the world more so with pandemic and masking rules in the last couple of years. The meltdown of Southwest in US in the last week is an example that even the best can fail. Even their own CEO has agreed that its not acceptable to cancel so many flights. So we dont need to highlight only Indian specific issues as this happens everywhere.

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by mchandra13

Avianca - its a Colombian based LCC.

Are you sure it's an LCC? I know it's a part of Star Alliance network and I remember it being the flag carrier of Columbia. So, I would be bit surprised if it's an LCC.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by mchandra13

Avianca - its a Colombian based LCC. They are one of the better LCCs I have traveled in. They sell seats in an interesting way. They sell seats in the sizes from XS to XL where XL is the business class and XS is the no frills economy. For a LCC, their seats and leg space are above average. I really liked their service approach both on and off the flight. They have leather seats and often have IFE screen behind the seats with decent entertainment options. To my surprise they served meals in routes where United/Delta just provide a snack and a drink.

Originally Posted by SR-71

Are you sure it's an LCC? I know it's a part of Star Alliance network and I remember it being the flag carrier of Columbia. So, I would be bit surprised if it's an LCC.

Avianca is certainly not an LCC. I've flown with their Ecuadorean counterpart - Avianca Ecuador when I flew to San Cristóbal in the Galapagos islands. Originally Colombian but now they are a multi-national conglomerate with subsidiaries in most Latin American countries.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by SuperGirl_Dad

One of the most underrated service provider was Jet airways.

Surprised to see people praising Jet. I've flown them only domestically and every time the service was borderline unpleasant. Once they couldn't even finish the meal service and when questioned by some passengers the crew unapologetically chimed that they will hand over the food post-landing if it was that necessary.

Originally Posted by no_fear

I know this thread is about airlines, but the TSA truly is a league of its own in ineptitude. But nothing beats the surly attitude of JFK immigration officers sitting behind glass desks in bulletproof vests with holstered guns.

The rudeness and condescension they display towards anyone who is not holding an American passport is mind boggling.

Totally agree about the immigration officers but never felt the TSA to be rude. When coming from Denver, the security check was painfully long and the agents even apologized to us, two Indians, for the delay. I believe they end up being rude when someone tries to act smart.

[mchandra13]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

Avianca is certainly not an LCC. I've flown with their Ecuadorean counterpart - Avianca Ecuador when I flew to San Cristóbal in the Galapagos islands. Originally Colombian but now they are a multi-national conglomerate with subsidiaries in most Latin American countries.

Originally Posted by SR-71

Are you sure it's an LCC? I know it's a part of Star Alliance network and I remember it being the flag carrier of Columbia. So, I would be bit surprised if it's an LCC.

Its true that Avianca was not originally a LCC and they have grown to be a conglomerate with subsidiaries in multiple countries. However they filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic in 2021. As part of Chapter 11 re-organization, Avianca have adopted a low cost model in 2022 as they acquired their LCC competitor Viva Air based out of Peru. So effectively they are a LCC now. So all the good things about Avianca like spacious seating will soon be a thing of the past with proposals for denser seating configurations and other cost cutting measures are being implemented.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by mchandra13

I have seen videos of this guy and he is an eternal cribber. So we need to ignore his reviews and videos. Unruly passengers and arrogant airline/ground staff are a reality in all parts of the world more so with pandemic and masking rules in the last couple of years. The meltdown of Southwest in US in the last week is an example that even the best can fail. Even their own CEO has agreed that its not acceptable to cancel so many flights. So we dont need to highlight only Indian specific issues as this happens everywhere.

There is one more guy out there who seems to be hellbent on shaming Vistara airlines and a number of these foreign aviation vloggers are sometimes at loggerheads with another famous aviation vlogger based out of Dubai. The same thing has happened with the so called auto experts who we have talked about in our forum. Best left ignored.

[no_fear]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

There is one more guy out there who seems to be hellbent on shaming Vistara airlines and a number of these foreign aviation vloggers are sometimes at loggerheads with another famous aviation vlogger based out of Dubai.

That vlogger is Josh Cahill - a grade A moron. He shot to fame for promoting the all women Kam Air flight in Afghanistan. He single handedly angered the whole of Singapore after posting a pretty nonsensical review of his flight.

Sam Chui on the other hand is a well respected vlogger who is genuinely into aviation and not a fame seeking two timer.

[fhdowntheline]

At least Sam Chui has some 'skin' in the game, he has done some pilot training and he also has a more whollistic view of the industry.

[mchandra13]

Most of these airline vloggers do multiple flights a month and a lot of times in business class. Mere mortals with all sorts of cards and airline points struggle to get one business class ticket, then what magic these guys do to get so many business class tickets repeatedly??

[rb003]

I'll throw in a few experiences I haven't very often on this thread.

Virgin Atlantic - Top tier. Maybe just short of Emirates in my experience - but it's been a long time since I flew on an Emirates flight. Virgin Atlantic was very comfy, great service and on-time. In flight entertainment was slightly lacking, but I found enough to enjoy.

Kenya Airways - Good aircraft, service and food - prices are quite affordable. Unfortunately, horribly delayed on both legs of a connecting flight. Incredibly slow boarding / deboarding procedures too.

[Shiftlock]

I'll share a few experiences from my very short travel history:

Pre-covid:
2015:- went to Singapore and Hong-Kong. Changi airport was fabulous and so was Singapore airlines, nice flight and exceptional service.

2019:- went to thailand, thai airways was operating an old flight, but the service was nice and IFE was plenty.

Post-Covid:
2022:- travelled to Dubai with Oman Air. The flight had decent legroom and the in-flight entertainment was plenty, however the food and service I felt was lacking a little. Infact, on the return leg, the food was so bad, we felt it was better to eat the packet of chips they provide instead.

Dubai airport was certainly very grandiose but we did not have much time to explore properly after spending quite a bit of time at the Duty free stores.