A travel enthusiast shares the experience of his first Vistara flight

I loved the beautifully appointed cabin - the dark brown theme and the leatherette seats are particularly classy.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction:

This is a short review of my first flight on Vistara. My experience was a mixed bag, and the next few posts will explain why.

How did this travel happen?

Vistara doesn't serve many airports and that's how I could never get to fly on one of their flights. The closest I got to Vistara was when I saw a B787 at the gate in Kempegowda International sometime in 2021. I had to take a flight out of the same airport a few days back and chose Vistara to:

• match my departure time.
• experience the service and,
• match my onward connection by rail.

Booking experience:

I'd booked via one of the on line portals and the end result wasn't a perfectly seamless experience. I first got a message that my booking was awaiting conformation by the airline, and a few seconds later, the booking got confirmed. What I discovered later was that the ticket invoice was issued on one PNR, while the PNR that came later from the airline was something else. This must have been due to that delay in confirmation of my booking or something else that I'm not aware of.

Web Check In:

Fairly straightforward and the boarding pass showed flight details, source and destination in large font, making it easy for security staff to read at airport entry.

Baggage drop and Security Check:

Again, a quickfire affair, with zero wait time; maybe it was that time of the day when passenger traffic was low. My passage through BLR security was again a virtual wait-free affair. Total time from entry into the airport to arrival at my gate was less than 25 minutes - a record of sorts at BLR.

A few tips on how to organize one's electronic and non electronic devices can be seen in the quote in the link. (The link also contains useful tips on how to choose seats on Indigo to be served quicker).

On board a Vistara flight:

Likes:

• Beautifully appointed cabin - the dark brown theme and the leatherette seats are particularly classy.
• Nice looking lightning around the overhead bins - like Emirates.
• A full meal on board - experiencing this first time on a domestic flight after over four years.
• Neatly and appropriately turned out cabin crew.
• Soothing music accompanying engine noise at take off; very nice touch not often seen on all flights.
• A phone/PDA holder at viewing height to help passengers enjoy on-screen entertainment of their choice on their devices.

What could have been better:

• Meal service was slow; got my meal only approx 40 mins after take off.
• Meal quality was mixed - the dal was excellent, and so was the custard. "Cake crumbs" and the vegetable could have been better.
• Not enough serving trays loaded in the carts - cabin crew were running against time to fetch more trays from the aft side.
• In the hurry to fetch more trays, both sides of the cart were open - this could have resulted in the odd tray inside being pushed out to the other side onto the passage.
• As a result of 1 and 3, coffee/tea service got delayed and I got mine after the aircraft had commenced descent.
• Again, final cabin clearance got delayed due to 1 and 3.
• The wrong baggage belt was announced on arrival, and those who didn't look out for the display at the baggage belt realised later that the baggage was on another belt.

The A320neo cabin with pleasant lighting:

Seat back:

The PDA holder:

The full meal:

Open Sesame:

A320/321 neo with Boeing 737-800 NG - seeing a mixed fleet of single aisle aircraft for the first time:

Closing comments:

• Few fine points like on board service need to be worked on by Vistara to improve the overall experience. I've never had cause for complaint when I flew, say, Jet Airways.
• Sometimes, a no-frills airline can beat full service ones on service quality.
• These minor lows notwithstanding, I enjoyed my first flight on Vistara, and look forward to more.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.