It is really surprising to note how far an airline ( or any business, for that matter) would go, just to ensure that their coffers remain heavy.
The story goes like this, it was the month of October and I was on my way home, after holidaying in the hills at Darjeeling.
After a gruelling ride from the hills to the bus stand at Siliguri and then further down to Bagdogra airport, we were greeted with an overflowing lounge, with people, and not water though. The flight was late. Nothing serious.
Yet what had hurt us, throughout our stay at the hills, we were greeted with frequent text messages, asking for extra cash, on one context or other. These were not at hand when I booked online, with the fare looking too good to be true. We were asked to shell out for seats, for food, and for most of the services we thought coming as standard extras with the package. Surprise once more, we were led to the aircraft from the terminal building, marching through the sun drenched tarmac in the sweltering heat.
Now, three consecutive bookings, as a family of three, should be given a block of seats- an aisle seat, a middle seat and a window seat. But strange is the way of the world, with a dynamic logic deciding the seats to be allotted to a person who asks for more than one seat. We were allotted seats in three different corners of the plane, and asked to pay up ( again, text messages) to get seats of choice at Rs 400 per seat. I had no other way than to oblige. Food, though not mentioned before, was available on board and could be paid for online, said an SMS when we were boarding the aircraft. We chose to ignore. But we were in for more surprises, as they did not offer even a bottle of water on board.
However, it was on sale aboard, at about Rs 80 for a 500 ml bottle. The label of the bottle from Cafe Coffee Day read specially packaged for Spicejet without mentioning MRP or anything close. But this was, perhaps the cheapest edible on board, with samosas coming for Rs 100 a piece, and a below par sized one at that. The menu card showed lip smacking food, however at prices that were, literally, thousands of feet above the ground. Dispersal at Kolkata was uneventful, largely due to the new terminal that the flight was assigned to.Later I came to know that Spicejet was, in fact, a loss making airline, and these were just ploys to refill their sagging kitty. Whatever the matter is, I will think twice before flying Spicejet ever again.
