[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Why is it sad? Pre liberalisation of the airline industry,flying was only for the elite and uber rich (or company sponsored for senior employees), these days I can fly Bom Maa Bom for like 12-15k all in, while in the late 80'z it used to cost Rs 2,500 which inflation adjusted is something like Rs 37,000 today.

With the rising market, we have a plethora of carriers while previously it was a take it or leave it IC.

For those who miss the exclusivity of flying in the 80's I normally recommend flying only business class. The pricing is (inflation adjusted) the same, you get priority boarding, lounge access, priority baggage delivery....win win.

Back in 2015, I was working in Haridwar and Diwali holiday notice had been published. I checked all the train reservations, and as expected, all the trains had huge waiting lists. So decided to take a flight, which would be my first experience. Fortunately, Vistara was a relatively new operation then and I was lucky to get a free upgrade to premium economy! And it was a relatively cheaper proposition that taking a bus to New Delhi and then catching another train from there.

And boy was the experience lavish! Breakfast served on a hot plate with a cover and all. Definitely in the top two experience (the other being a first class journey but very short duration, hence can't decide between the two). And experiencing close to 900kmph speeds for the first time is simply something that you can't forget

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by fordday

However we faced cabin pressure issues. While taking off there was little bit of ear pain but while descending almost everyone was facing ear pain. No amount of saliva swallowing helped.

On the return flight too faced the same issue (most likely the same aircraft).

Never faced this in A320s ever before.

I believe this may be more due to the climb/descent profile being steeper than usual.

[kayvwar]

Flew by Air Akasa with my parents (MUM-BLR).
As mentioned in earlier posts the cabin space is marginally higher than its competition in the same segment. The touch down at Bangalore was pretty rough to say the least. The baggage collection at carousel was very very slow. The worst part was my experience is getting a travel certificate from them. Unlike in Indigo where there is an option to do it yourself, Air Akasa insists you email them (to which they don't respond) or call them. After multiple escalations I was not able to get the travel certificate from them. They have a long way to go to take them seriously. I would not opt for their services for sometime at least.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Its sad because there is no charm left , it has become a bit too procedural, and with the advent of LCC, you get a very vanilla experience all across. I disagree with the airfare bit, because prices are still too high in my opinion especially for slot constrained airports. Fuel cost structure needs to be looked at for aviation to take the next step. The only thing that has improved is the overall safety record, which is a big plus.

Sorry if am sounding obtuse but, how was it charming to fly in the 80's? The airports were just as horribly crowded mind you, Mumbai was an absolute nightmare before Santacruz was expanded and later T2 came up.

Costs are categorically and objectively lower. There Is just no two ways about it. I just casually checked, if I want to, for tomorrow there are return flights to Chennai that cost Rs 3,093 one way for a 6.1k return total, all in.

Inflation adjusted, this in 80's level rates translates to 35k one way!

And like I mentioned and with all due respect to your opinion, at the same 80's level cost one can fly Business and get the charm back

[V.Narayan]

Thought I'd share my perspectives on two factors that might not normally be on the radar of most passengers - Maintenance and cabin crew training and costs.

On aircraft maintenance - I mean the technical side not just cabin appearance - I'd rate Indigo & Vistara at the top in an A+ category comparable with the best in the world. Air India and Go Air in a fully acceptable category but not A+. Air Asia India would come next down and Spicejet would be an airline I'd never fly, and I don't. I never fly Air Asia India either. Very hard to explain this personal opinion just based on having dealt with each in great detail in my first career.

On cabin crew training the differences are even more stark. How rigorous has the training* been is apparent to my eye having come from the industry and run in-house training programmes which were to a higher standard than most airlines need. In this respect Indigo upto say 3 years ago was the gold standard and Vistara worked very hard to catch up. The training standards at Indigo have slackened in these 3 years why I don't know. But one can make it out from the actions of the younger cabin crew in tricky situations. Over the past 2 months I took two Air India domestic business class flights and the front cabin was served by the new generation crew with one from the older lot and one from the post Tata recruitment. Going by my observations Tata have a loooong way to go in getting their training standards upto where Indigo and Vistara are. One can notice the old 'sarkari' style and lack of confidence in them. Go Air, Spicejet, Air Asia India are so far behind there is no point making a comparison.

Where costs go despite fuel being a lot more expensive in real inflation adjusted terms flying is way cheaper in India today than 30 or 40 years ago by a factor of a few multiples. Booking, cancelling, checking in etc have become vastly simpler and quicker; flights are not held back two hours to accommodate some politician; and we do not have Indian Airline/Air India check-in counter clerks yelling viciously at some hapless passenger. This last 'behaviour' was very common in the bad old days some pine for.

By or before 2030 we will have 400+ cities in India linked by air as a part of improving connectivity for travellers of both small & large businesses.

* By training I refer to being trained to deliver the service package that airline is selling. So Indigo sells a LCC package and one should not seek a Lufthansa business class service there. And so on.

[Gansan]

Is there any cap on how much an airline can charge for a ticket? A couple of days ago someone had to fly to Chennai from Hyderabad due to an emergency and had to pay 16k. The usual fare is 5-6k. Are they allowed to simply charge what the traffic can bear?

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is there any cap on how much an airline can charge for a ticket? A couple of days ago someone had to fly to Chennai from Hyderabad due to an emergency and had to pay 16k. The usual fare is 5-6k. Are they allowed to simply charge what the traffic can bear?

Yes. It is a free pricing ruled by demand & supply. It is the same free pricing that gives us a relatively cheap fare of Rs 6000 on most days. Govt controls the costs - fuel being the biggest. If they controlled costs and prices airlines will shut down. When Govt ran the airlines as a monopoly till c1990 the MAA-HYD fare in economy would have been Rs 15k to 20k normally in today's currency.

In the past when misguided Govt bureaucrats have brought up caps the industry has asked for floors too. It can't be a one way street. This notion of caps or floors on pricing sadly is a hark back to our license raj days.

[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is there any cap on how much an airline can charge for a ticket? A couple of days ago someone had to fly to Chennai from Hyderabad due to an emergency and had to pay 16k. The usual fare is 5-6k. Are they allowed to simply charge what the traffic can bear?

Depends on the traffic between the two locations. I had a company ticket booked from Ahmedabad to Pune for 4.7k. My colleague booked the same flight 4 days later (1-2 days before the journey) and he got it for 2.7k. His lucky day I guess.

Dynamic pricing also depends on potential traffic forecasted on this particular route, at the particular time. Same day airfares for same destinations (depending on the time of departure) may vary by as much as 50% (even more in some cases).

[condor]

Any review of Go First ?

May have to travel in next 2 weeks, and the most convenient return flight (Ranchi-BLR) is with Go First

[srkriz26]

While I used to be a frequent flyer until 2017, a lot has changed since then. My goto domestic airline was always Jet airways. Their services were top-notch, at least in my case. Never had issues with timing, service, etc.,

End of 2017, happened to fly on Spicejet and it was horrible. The return flight from Calicut was delayed by 8hrs after check-in. And, no sort of apology or professionalism from the management. Pathetic service...

Fast forward to 2022, and I have become a frequent flyer again. I found some extraordinary discounts on flight tickets which made the air travel as my go-to mode of transport between Chennai and Bangalore. My office is located near Bangalore airport, and my house in Chennai is behind the airport as well.

Ever since I resumed flight travel, I am using only Akasa air. Initially, I was skeptical of the airline. But, the service, timing, and professionalism is all great on the route I travel.

However, I always take the first flight to Bangalore which is at 7 am. Chennai domestic terminal is calm at that time. And flight always takes off and lands on time on that schedule.

[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by condor

Any review of Go First ?

May have to travel in next 2 weeks, and the most convenient return flight (Ranchi-BLR) is with Go First

Should be okay as their service is slightly above average (based on a journey I had years ago). Not sure how it is currently.

[V.Narayan]

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/man-...report-3859151

No dearth of rule breaking nut cases. After smoking in the toilet on board a flight and fighting with the crew and other pax this worthy opts for jail in preference to bail!! Either he is delusional and might come to his senses or he is seeking dysfunctional publicity or he hasn't paid his rent and needs a state guest facility or ________ {fill in the blanks}!!. What's with Indian males and flying.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/man-...report-3859151

What's with Indian males and flying.

By the way there was also a case of a lady who was caught smoking!. I think this increase in cases is simply a function of many more travelers flying than before, some of them new/ infrequent travelers and some who are irreverent.

[mpksuhas]

Had to visit Mumbai & Cochin last weekend.

Vistara - Nothing to complain as such. Infact this was the cheapest flight to Mumbai for a Saturday morning (6.40 AM) from Bangalore.

Indigo - The incoming flight was delayed by around 20 mins and then Indigo goes all bonkers as we all have seen them do when something like that happens. A hurried call to the gates and as usual, people rush and jostle. I wait till the rush at gate gets over and walk through with a smug smile, the smile was short-lived though. Aerobridge was one level down from the gate through escalator and saw that almost entire passengers were crowded there waiting for cleaning of flight to be over.
Got in to seat after a while, only to see left over food over the seat. Guess the cleaning was hurried up due to delayed flight. Anyway, thankfully no further delay.

Akasa - I guess they are yet to settle down with their processes. Web-check-in, they mandatorily asked for paid seat, that's no seats are free for them. I selected autoassign or which got an Email that my seats will be assigned only 6 hours prior and they will send the boarding pass only past that. On crossing the said 6 hours timeline, I get another mail and SMS, that they have some technical issue and cant assign seat. Will have to do check-in from counter.

There, they issue boarding pass, but at gate, when they scan this boarding pass, it says seat not valid. Finally after lot of discussion among themselves, they assign another seat. And then, I get a call on mobile from airline staff asking why I havent boarded yet. Seems due to the seat issue, its still shown as not boarded in their system. Thankfully that got cleared.

Seats are comfortable compared to Indigo (not a great benchmark, still)


Alliance Air - The 1.5 hour flight got delayed by an hour. Since its an ATR, thankfully boarding gets done quickly and we are on air quick. However as we near Bangalore, we get held up in a queue, causing delay to increase from 1.5 hours to 2 hours. On a positive note, they still provide a small water bottle, something many LCCs have stopped.

[SuperGirl_Dad]

Came across this news article of SpiceJet pilots enjoying coffee and snacks in cockpit and has ruffled some feathers on how they have placed their hot beverage. DGCA and Airline are looking at the available facts.



Source:

Link1
Link2
https://twitter.com/BanditOnYour6/st...l-4947477.html

Is this abnormal or is it making a mountain out of mole hill? Can coffee spill cause critical equipment failure as alleged?

On a separate note: why are the thrusters not symmetrical?