A pleasant surprise indeed!. Review on JetLite

I continue my tryst with Indian domestic carriers and provide you a piece of my mind being as little biased as possible :-)

Before we begin, let me say that the low cost carriers are truly doing better now because recessionary pressures are easing traffic from the Mumbai and Delhi airports. In my last few experiences, flights are more punctual, land on time and you get cabs at pretty much any time you want them. Enough said, let me start..

I was travelling to Delhi on a short notice and was concerned about paying hefty last minute fares. A quick scan of the carrier websites indicated that on a 8-10 day notice, the best fares I could manage would be closer to INR 3500. Not bad but I still took a chance of checking travel engines like https://makemytrip.com, https://yatra.com and the little known https://flightraja.com

Booking

Though the Jetlite website showed fared of INR 3325 all inclusive, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the same flight was available for INR2250 at MakeMyTrip.

I was tempted to instantly book but tried the other two engines as well. I almost dropped down from my chair when I saw that Flight Raja was giving fares of INR 1674 all inclusive for the same flight!!

That is the same as a Rajdhani 3 Tier AC fare..This time I did not wait and proceeded to book my ticket immediately. So at 1674, if I was complaining, I should be barred from travelling by air. :-)

Checking

Being a Jet platinum member, I got an option to tele/web checkin 48 hours prior to departure. My flight was due at 8.20 pm and I called precisely 47 hours 45 minutes before departure to tele checkin. Just like I wanted, seat 1A, the first row window seat was allotted to me.

Please note that almost all low cost carriers block the first few rows for special/VIP passengers and regular passengers do not get these seats easily. A big thumbs up to JetLite in being fair to all passengers. Once I got my preferred seat, I proceeded to my tasks in my home city and waited for my return.

Web Boarding Pass

I was travelling light and had only a hand baggage so decided to use the web checking service. I was promptly issued a web based boarding card which I could print, get stamped at the airport counter and proceed to board the aircraft.

I will recommend this to all low cost fliers as this saves you lots of time. Effectively you can reach 5 minutes before boarding. and go straight to security check. At this instance I was especially pleased as I got time to have an early dinner with my parents before flying out.

Airport

JetLite boards from the same gates as Jet Airways and this saves one the fish market scuttle at the other boarding gates for low cost carriers. This was a big plus. The JetLite staff efficiently stamped my printout and I was in the security check queue in no time.

All other procedures were fast and I was so pleased to see that the flight was bang on time. MS travellers who have done Delhi-Mumbai between 7-9 pm will agree that this was no less than a miracle!

Boarding

Boarding was a little confusing as two gates were announcing boarding for the same flight! I took my chance with the one with lesser queue and got through the gates to wait for the bus to drop me to the aircraft

On Board

The minute I entered the aircraft, the slightly pale insides reminded me of aged aircrafts, slightly smaller than the Boeing 737-800/Airbus 320s that we are now used to.

I looked at the exterior and found that this aircraft was actually a Boeing 737-700, a smaller cousin of the mainstream short haul aircraft. This much have been an Ex-Air Sahara plane. Another pleasant sight was that the crew was in Air Sahara uniforms sporting a Jet Airways tag.

I am actually glad this hasnt changed. Compared to Glaring Yellow on Black, I think blue sarees look far more elegant. Call me old fashioned but I belong to this soil :-)

The seats were pleasantly clean and comfortable. I must mention that the head rests were really really comfortable. I reclined back and waited as we proceeded to Mumbai.

I do not have any service opinions coz I did not require any particular services on this short flight. I would like to mention that my fellow passengers looked happy with the flight quality and crew hospitality. Snacks that were being served were of average quality and price.

Post 2 hours, I could notice the typical circling I am so used to while landing at the Mumbai airport. Finally we landed in Mumbai around 90 minutes late even after taking off bang on time from Delhi. I am tempted to blame the airline but I guess there will be lot of traffic when you attempt to land at 10.30 pm at India's busiest international airport.

There were minimal plesantries exchanged while exiting and I was at the terminal in less than 5 minutes. Proceeded to move out, get into a Meru and off home..

Overall, I think this has been the best example of low cost flying. Simple, unobtrusive, inexpensive and pleasant. I will definitely prefer this over other low cost carriers as long as fares are +/- 10% of other low cost carriers.