Oct 17, 2006 08:49 PM
2743 Views
I have been flying Indian Airlines (IA) now called Indian for over 20 years now.. Airlines may come and airlines may go... Innovations may happen and changes may get introduced... The world may go topsy turvy but IA will remain IA...
They continue to retain the same old practices and hostesses.. Flights taking off on time is like a "Hole in One" - a rarity.. The staff in the airport will continue to retain their marked indifference to customers.. The service will be casual and sometimes rude.. They would take customers for granted and act as if they are doing a big favour by serving us.. Meals are the same - no changes... Even the plastic trays and cutlery are the same... The seats look old and worn out... The reading lights may or may not work...
I can recount couple of experiences where I felt let down by IA. Once, I was to fly to Hyderabad and was caught in traffic on way to airport. I had been tele-checked in as a frequent flyer. Yet, I called them, identified myself and explained that I will be slightly late and not to issue the seat to anyone else. I was given assurance on the same. Yet, when I reached the airport (25 minutes before scheduled departure time) I was told that the ticket was issued to someone else.
On another recent occassion, I was travelling business class and had a colleague who was travelling economy. We were at the airport one hour before the flight. I was given a pass to be at the lounge. When I requested for including my colleague (another frequent flyer) in the lounge pass, I was politely told that rules do not permit it. I explained that the airport being crowded, we only wanted to sit there and discuss something. We did not want to enjoy any of their services. Yet, the officer expressed inability to process this request..
Yet, there are people who are keen to fly only in IA. These are people who believe that IA has better management and maintainence of its fleet.. They are fussy about safety and have formed some sort of view that other airliens are risky... I used to belong to this school of thought once upon a time.. The second positive of IA used to be the leg space - much better than others... Not any more... Other airlines are equally comfortable... The third positive was that here is an airline with experienced crew... they are not a bunch of good looking dumb youngsters... Again, airlines like Jet have proven otherwise...
One of the great things that IA does is help Indian nationals whenever there is a crisis... Perhaps, this earns them a lot of goodwill.. I recently was in a flight which was delayed by over 40 minutes because one of the passengers had left his mobile phone in the check in counter and discovered it after getting into the flight... The IA staff went overboard to confirm the identity and return the phone and thus managed to delay all the other passengers... Likewise, we have often seen IA being used as if it is a personal airlines by politicians and high profile guys who would come late...
So, why should anyone fly IA esp. when they are usually late, have average service and low in comfort ? I think this is on account of sheer inertia on one hand and special discounts given to corporates on the other hand.. Also, as IA flies to many sectors, they are preferred by some people.
All in all, I will suggest to people to avoid IA and go for Jet whenever they can...
Looking forward to your comments and responses.
