Apr 11, 2005 05:50 PM
2794 Views
(Updated Apr 11, 2005 05:57 PM)
Where do I begin,
to tell the story of how horrible,
flying with Sahara can be;
to explain how terrible the experience of
broken seats, broken tray tables and torn luggage can be:
Where do I begin...?
For starters, the name SAHARA AIRLINES disgusts me, any and every time I hear it.
My experience with Sahara Airlines began and ended with a round ticket to Kolkata,
just before Diwali last year. Excited about a Diwali holiday back home, I made my way through the aircraft as board air hostesses reluctantly welcomed passengers on board. After parking my hand baggage in the overhead storage, I sat down and OUCH!!...I landed on a broken seat!
I called out to a very reluctant air hostess. She disappeared post hearing the complain and returned with a problem in exchange... ''Madam, it's a full flight today! We can't upgrade you''. Sahara Airlines, I guess, trains the crew to believe that passengers who land up on broken seats are trying to get upgraded. No apologies, no attempt to solve the problem but absolute enthusiasm to kill the problem in the bud with outright impertinence and indifference!
Thank you very much! My helpless conversation with the air hostess continued. ''How do you expect me to sit in a flight, inclined at 45 degrees to my left with hardly any leg space and fly 2 hours and 45 minutes?''. Her reply, follows promptly, ''Sorry, but you'll have to manage...Madam, it's a full flight today!''. Yes! Outrageous but true, those were her words.
Just in case, if you thought that was it, read on. On my return journey with Sahara from from Kolkata to Mumbai, (given I had no choice, thanks to, the budget round ticket in hand), I landed up with a broken service table and damaged luggage as bonus.
The head purser on finding out that I had a broken table, rattled on, ''Madam, it's a full flight today! We can't upgrade you''. See what I meant earlier...Sahara Airlines believes that passengers who land up with anything that’s broken, are trying to upgrade themselves... No apologies, no attempt to solve the problem of the table tray but absolute enthusiasm to kill the problem in the bud with outright impertinence and indifference! And about the broken and damaged luggage, the guy who was supposed to repair the suitcase never turned up! Can you imagine being caught in an emergency situation on board Sahara Airlines…!!!
My story should make it to the Ripley's Page or should be showcased on Radio City's Kya Baat Kar Rahah Hai, because, believe it or not, I did fly for 2 hours and forty five minutes inclined at 45 degrees on a broken seat on board Sahara Airlines, balanced my food tray on a tray table that was broken and tilting to my right on board Sahara Airlines, and landed in Mumbai to found my suitcase damaged by Sahara Airlines.
Well, given they want people to believe that they are our Sahara in the skies, it’s quite a thing to have an Airline that follows the philosophy of broken seats and tray tables by Sahara Airlines, suitcases damaged by Sahara Airlines, Airline crews specially trained to be difficult with the people and Airline crews trained to be never there for the people.
