Apr 25, 2009 09:17 AM
20346 Views
Most of my reviews surround train and air travel and although I notice service and quality issues, I am not a fussy passenger onboard.
In most cases, if I get my privacy, good food and minimal interaction, I will come back satisfied from my travel experience. All this changed in my last experience of flying the supposedly "good times"
I was booked on chennai - mumbai's last KF Red departure at 8.30 pm. First things first, the tickets were expensive..a Spicejet flight 30 mins prior to KF Red was selling almost 600 bucks cheaper at 4600 but I was hell bent on KF as I though after a hard day trip in the heat I could use some comfort on better seats and a better meal.
As I saw the spicejet flight close boarding and take off, I got the news that my flight was delayed by an hour. So here I am, with an expensive low cost ticket, waiting for one extra hour. I must appreciate that they gave me lounge access basis my gold membership even on a KF Red flight.
After 30 minutes I was informed of another 30 minutes delay. At this point the only thing that could cool me off was a pint of beer. So I went up to the 2nd floor lounge at the Chennai Airport to swig some. The only beer available was a local brew called Golden Eagle. I love experimenting so I ordered a bottle and was not disappointed. Crisp and cold, just what I wanted..but... sorry I am drifting away... :-)
Back to the flight..the boarding process was fine and onboard I was allocated a non-reclining seat! I complained why the boarding agent did not inform me of this and the crew told me to adjust for the moment and they will try to move me once all passengers are seated.
I have to say this was the most uncomfortable aircraft seat I have been to EVER in my life. Cramped, hard and extremely uncomfortable. The only solace was that I found the flight almost 40% empty... but not for long..read on.. After takeoff, and seat belt signs switching off, I got up and hunted for a comfortable reclining aisle or window seat..but I was shocked to see that almost 50% of the aircraft's seats were non reclining. I did not understand why an airline would do that. I counted and found that 14-16 rows in a 32 row aircraft were non reclining rows. This was just unacceptable. When asked, the crew sais that is a special seat configuration. Gruntling I moved to the emergency exit non reclining seat where I had some leg space.
Onboard meal service is a recent KF initiative and I must say it went as wrong as possible. We got a rice meal which was at best a mix of pulav, biryani and zeera rice. Tasteless and smelling of excessive condiments, I did not enjoy the meal at all. Left half of it and waited to reach my beloved Mumbai... Thankfully we landed in 2.5 hrs but to my dismay we landed on terminal 1A!!! As far as I know KF Red airlines depart and land at term 1b and KF flights use terminal 1a. KF needs to sort this mess out of mixing airport terminals.
I was a taxi traveller but if I had family of friends picking me up, I wouldnt know what terminal to tell them! Overall, I was extremely disappointed with the whole experience pre boarding to post landing and will never travel on KF red unless fares are a lot cheaper than other LOW COST carriers or it is the only flight taking me to my next destination..
