Air deccan - et al. Review on Simplifly Deccan

once upon a time there was this JAT ( a native of Haryana). he started his own airline, cuz he was bored milking his cows. the business was good for the first year, small aircrafts, lean and thin (sic) staff, low overheards, word of the mouth publicity (read no television ads). the moment the aircraft was loaded (yes loaded....ooops boarded), the steward would announce " welcome to the new and user friendly your own low price airline.....we give you everything....but hardly take anything from you in return, how do we do it? well leave it to our chairman, he is still thinking about it, how to explain how he does it ( although he has already sold off his dairy, all his cows, his uncle (yes mortguaged as collateral), well gentlemen and ladies, welcome aboard, flying with us will be a pleasure if you stop counting ....and now the rest of the mumbo jumbo...."

the above story rings a bell? well here is how:

flying on any low cost airline, specially deccan, if you are with your family, please leave them behind, because, the tickets cost is reocvered from the excess baggage you are bound to carry.

if you are travelling alone on a business trip, you are bound to miss your meeting, cuz invariably all flights are delayed, not to mention many a times cancelled without prior notice.

if you are stuck with less money, then god forbid, they do not provide with alternative accomodation on a delayed or cancelled flight.

please feel free to carry your own food and eat it inbetween the roving eyes of your fellow passengers. if not, then welcome and buy the peanuts (yup peanuts)

these low cost airlines have flattened the internal and external edifices of our major airports, try and stand in a line at secunderabad airport on an evening and you will know what I mean.

i simply do not understand that when there is a persistent delay on most of their flights, why do they not allow more turnaround time and reschedule their flights, rather than put millions of passengers to discomfort?

yea, air deccan and alikes have made air travel more affordable, making it possible for millions to fly even if the first and only time in their lives, but please we indian citizens deserve better, low cost does not mean making asses of ourselves.

FOOTNOTE:

Since I had written this review a few months ago, I am told that the airline has improved its ontime performance consistently, and it cheers my heart that ultimately criticism helps improve products. lets hope that the brickbats are taken heartily with a spirit to look insight our own faults for improvement. as I am not per se against air deccan or any other low cost airline, infact I am all for support of these airlines. These are the carriers who have had the courage to go where no one dared before, enable millions of poor and middle class families enjoy air travel ! its easy to start an airline and make money, its hard to carry a message with your airline. People like Mr . Gopinath . MD of Air Deccan are pioneers in this field and need all our encouragement and good wishes for many a successes in their endevaours, without which we will be back to where we were, flights were meant only for the rich and affluent class.

So Sirs and Madams (top bosses of all low cost airlines) keep improving and we will keep criticising ! yes its a paradox, but without our criticisms, your airlines would nose dive !!!