This review is based on my experiences with Indian over several flights, and rates only the attitude of its staff, not its punctuality or any other factors
You’ve heard it before – Indian Airlines is a grumpy overstuffed giant whose time has come and gone. The flights are late, its safety records are iffy, its service sucks, and one would be far better off flying any other Indian airline, even Air Deccan!
Hold on a second – you just might not have that much cause to complain about Indian Airlines’ (or Indian, as they call themselves now) service anymore. No, my dear reader, I have not been affected by heat stroke or any other kind of mid-summer madness; allow me to explain.
Normally Indian is my last airline of choice when I have to travel. In fact sometimes I’ve even wondered if having a root canal sans anaesthesia would be less of a painful experience. But recently, I’ve been doing a bit of flying around as a guest of some companies I work for, and for these companies, with their somewhat handicapped expense accounts, Indian with it’s dirt cheap (hmmm….in these days of astronomic real estate prices, does that expression still make sense?) ticket rates, seems to be the airline of first choice.
In the last month, I have been on 8 Indian flights. Of these, only 1 was on time.The others all were late from an ‘only by a marginal delay of 10-15 minutes ma’am’ to an excruciating 3 hour wait in an airport with a first generation air-conditioning system. Some things don’t change!
What was a pleasant surprise however was the willingness of Indian’s staff not just to plaster bright cosmetics laden smiles on their faces, but to genuinely help their hot and bothered passengers.
When there was a delay of about an hour, an announcement was made saying Indian’s ‘guests’ could have refreshments in the airport coffee shop against their boarding passes. The first time I heard this, I was so surprised, you could have simply knocked me down with a look. But guess what, the same courtesy was offered every time they was a long delay!
It was a different matter of course that most of us were tearing our hair out strand by strand thinking about appointments missed, but hey, they tried to make us comfortable, which was much more than they had ever done before!
One time I had luggage I didn’t want to check in as my layover time was really short. My bag, with it’s dozens of books, and all the other things we women pack our bags full of, was very heavy. Noticing me red-faced and panting up the steps, not only did the stewardess suggest I park it in a business class overhead bin so that I didn’t have to lug it along the length of the aircraft, but she also stepped forward to help me heft it there, and then, she smiled. Yes, she smiled!
And the food – they have Taj flight services catering for them now. The food is vegetarian and not fancy, but it is good. No more rubbery cheese sandwiches and 2 Marie biscuits masquerading as snacks.
On one flight I asked a stewardess if I could have something other than tea or coffee to drink. She said they didn’t have anything else, and I resigned myself to having just water. Imagine my surprise when she returned to my seat 10 minutes later with a tetra pack of juice. And then, she smiled!
On another trip, my flight was delayed by one hour (again) This shouldn’t have been that big a deal for me, used as I was to Indian’s adherence to Indian Stretchable Time, but I had to catch a connecting flight with a transit time of just one hour.
When I explained my predicament to the lady at the check in counter, she quickly handed me the boarding pass for my connecting flight too, explained that if I missed it I would get a full refund of my ticket money and that they would try and get me on the next flight out on a private carrier.
I was already reeling with the shock of their pleasantness, when she pointed the duty manager’s cabin out to me, and asked me to see him, saying he might be able to help some more.
This duty manager listened patiently to my tale of woe, spoke to someone at the airport I was rushing through, and then told me connecting flight was expected to have a ‘marginal delay’ of 15 minutes, so I might just make it. ’If you are a little late, don’t worry, we will hold the flight for you.’ he said.
Never have I been as glad to hear the word ‘marginal delay’ and never have I been less caring about the plight of all those passengers baking on the tarmac, waiting for some hassled ‘connecting flight’ passenger to climb on board.
Once I arrived, there was an Indian ground staff waiting to take me through to my flight. ‘Don’t worry, ma’am, the other passengers are on board waiting for you he said, you will make it home on time.’
I’m sure this statement was meant to soothe my frazzled nerves, but images of murderous passengers kept dancing in my head, and I just picked up my bags and ran. Again a friendly steward took my bag and deposited it in a business class bin. And guess what, everybody smiled!
I sank into my seat, and gave thanks for the change in the attitude of Indian’s staff. I didn’t even grumble when the 5 yr old devil seated behind me amused himself for the duration of the flight by kicking the back of my seat.
Of all the Indian airlines around, I have flown Indian, Jet, Air Deccan and Paramount Airways. Going by my recent experiences with Indian, at least as far a pleasant attitude and willingness to help is concerned, I have to say Indian is now as good as, if not better than the best of them.
Thinking of how far Indian had come, I had to smile!
