Jun 06, 2009 05:45 PM
3240 Views
It was an unusual day for me, as I prayed twice for the reason not particularly known to me. The experience at Air-India(erstwhile Indian Airlines) happened at the backdrop of AF447 tragedy a day before and two AI pilots being suspended for creating a near collision situation at Mumbai Airport while take off.
Flight from Vadodra to Delhi was schedule to depart at 1950 Hrs. On an official trip and completing my work by afternoon, I leisurely reached to Airport around 1830 Hrs. Entry Gate carried first information on things to come and there it was, the flight was reaching at 2030 Hrs to Vadodra and you know now what happens.
By the way I used the term mock-tale because so many combinations of “bad tale” experiences per say created a Mockery of Joy of Flying.
The long wait was getting longer as the flight timing kept on shifting finally resting at 2130 Hrs. May be they didn’t want to disappoint passengers further and leave them on their own fate. The flight was declared free seating, so what do they expect!
Our boarding passes were checked by CISF personnel while AI men were busy discussing important world affairs. The bus earmarked for taking us to the aircraft seemed rejected from Delhi as Public Transport in Delhi cannot be more than 15 Years dated. Needless to say that the bus was not air-conditioned and few of the windows were not there. May be a work of art with wooden patches installed here and there. The doors wouldn’t close and a person from Airport rides boarding the footboard. The Bus is popularly called at “Bail Gaadi” among Airport Staff(insider information!!).
The crew was too tired at such late hours to exchange pleasantry and the flight bore a old worn out look. There were no Safety manuals in the pockets and no newspapers were left. AI magazine was available(who pays the agency to bring out such a thing!). Now started the moments of glory. It was announced that we have boarded IC-7621 while our tickets read IC-7620. On re-check I found my boarding pass read CD-7620. A few passengers enquired whether we are destined for delhi? It was in their records IC-7621 indeed, but we were heading home. So who cares.
The food arrived and like lions hungry of years I jumped for my veg. meal(being a Tuesday – don’t take me superstitious, just like that). On opening the packer it was a road side onion rice with around 5-10% kofta. The salad was cut at somebody’s home and the presentation was awful. Smartly some fried onions etc, were placed on top of the food packet while white rice waited for us at after the first scoop. Dried up chappati took its share of “kofta” with dry rice on itself left helpless. We were being treated by exquisite cuisine from “Cama Caterers”, Ahmedabad, thanks to AI.
It was 2300 hrs when it was informed that delhi is 20 – 30 minutes away. At this point warm air started coming from ac ducts and the place became a furnace. Crew was called who were more interested in getting their bags at the door. Somehow after hue and cry “someone” managed to get atleast the warm air off. Those moments raised anxiety among the passengers as only news we were hearing then was about air travel. We landed at 23:33 Hrs and waited for baggage till 2350 hrs.
My earlier experiences with international flights of Air India to Singapore and Paris were not good but then those didn’t deter me from getting an AI ticket as I found Delhi-Chennai to be extremely good. Another bias I have towards AI was that I did my industrial training during college days at Indian Airlines and I was a fan. My job doesn’t involve traveling so often but then for travelers like me. AI was just fine. But this experience has worked like last nail in the coffin. AI has now landed at bottom of my choices.
Days of Maharaja are gone and thank god we have democracy now to chose among fly birds in the sky. Maharaja is too old and the back has also bent after taking years of load of insensitive staff and management.
Good Bye Maharaja.
Note:- One credit must go to a gentleman at check in counter who offered a tea/coffee against Boarding Pass of Air India. Well I wanted water then and there were no glasses at the water cooler. Still I remember him being the only silver lining in the whole episode beside the fact that we reached home.
