Airline - On the Line

This is a bit of an outpouring of something that haunted my mind over the past few weeks, so it may not be as powerful as I feel.

I have flown almost every airline that offers a route, direct or indirect, between Singapore and Chennai. This will be a direct personal (maybe even brutally honest) opinion as to what I feel about each airline. I know some of them will be least bothered about customer feedback, but in the race to the line, I do hope they will start bothering.

I dont know what "Indian" tries to achieve by truncating the "Airlines". Maybe its honest enough to accept its not worth being called an Airlines. With the bright orange color, it can be easily located in the event of the aircraft landing on water :P Although I found excellent research articles (www.iegindia.org) on the incapacities in its ranks, and what it needs to focus on, ranging from resource utilisation to inflight service, the airlines itself does not seem to do anything about it. For a 4 hour flight, an average delay of 1 hr is inevitable. If there is one airline that can be assured to be delayed for half an hour, cos lone lazy passenger out of 300+ hasnt arrived yet, it is bound to be Indian. Dharma is doing the greatest good for the largest number, not in trying to please one lazy soul at the expense of so many others.

Air India turned Air India Express without notice. As a Air India customer, I got a rude shock when I wanted to reconfirm my ticket. The worst was that my ticket got invalidated cos of overnight change of name dreamt of by some recent MBA grad minting millions in its top brass. Thank god I waited till the last few days to reconfirm my ticket! Worst is that there is hardly any change in price, though it was supposed to be "Budget" flying experience. That cool dude who thought of this pathetic idea could have tried it out on domestic flights first. But maybe he knew Singapore is as close to Chennai as Delhi, so why not... I was surprised when I was handed over a tray to eat something. Gracious me! I spent the next half an hour trying to open the packets, spending more energy than I would get by eating that. Being a true Indian, I did not want to waste this gift, and I ate the snacks they gave. I spent the next day spending Rs 600 for filling up two of my wisdom teeth. I sure did not deserve the "wisdom" tooth after eating that! One more surprise. Oh my! A film being screened on a budget airliner. Although it was the most pathetic movie, FREE!! FREE!! Again my Indian instincts took over. My dreams were interupted by shouts by cabin crew. Rewind 6 yrs. Air India. "Can I please have a glass of water?" met with "How dare you ask me for that, you moron?" kinda stare from a hugely built aunty, as if I was asking for my 11th bottle of beer. You would be frozen in your seats after that stare with your mouth shut. Fast Forward to present. "$2", "$2", "No sir, you cant hear the movie sounds until you rent this headset for $2". I would rather feel pity for that begger on Anna Salai. The entertainment on board is so immense with these characters that you dont realise you are running 30 mins late. Ofcourse, in Chennai, we were made waiting 1.5 hrs for luggage to arrive, making me think that maybe the flight has gone back to get our luggage from Singapore. The most surprising thing is that both the government owned airlines are usually ontime during night flights, while the delays are on day flights. "Just a few hours more" kinda attitude shown by these airlines are deplorable to say the least.

Jet Airways, given that its a desi airline, who compete on competitive prices to sustain their small fleet of aircraft, wasnt much of a consideration. However, given that its privately owned, I was thinking of giving it a try. Surprisingly, they are on time, almost always. "Desi" did you say? Although running with older aircraft, which invokes some pity, they are professionals. Good branding image, they have created in the recent past. Hope they continue and do a good job and make India proud. However, all's not well, with their inflight service being next to nothing. They have realised one key point. People value their time, and 4 hrs flight means 4 hrs. Good job.

Moving onto International ones, how do they fare? I am not really an anti-Indian, and those who know me will tell you I am the contrary, but I do think the international guys deserve the pat on the back, with not too much to seperate them.

Malaysian Airlines are good and cheap, although it entails a circuitous route through KL with a lot of waiting time. Good way to see the nice KL Airport. Boring flight though.

Singapore Airlines are very good, with good entertainment once inside. Games and movies galore, you wont know time flies. They land as smooth as silk, so nothing to complain, except that they dont go really "desi" for my taste, like latest Tamil movies and songs, south indian vegetarian meals and stuff... Ofcourse, the worst about them is their pricing. For an economy traveller like me, its a fair bit on the higher side.

Best comes last, and ahoy, here comes Srilankan Airlines. From the first time I flew it, I never wanted to fly anything else! That tells you much about their standards. Singapore Airlines style comfort and service with a smile, not to mention hot figs as air hostesses. Also, pakka desi style stuff, be it food or entertainment. Never mind a short stopover at Colombo, its a nice place and you can also get some Srilankan tea home! Beat them if you can. Professional crew, captains, flight make it a pleasure. Ayobowan!

Customer loyalty comes not out of loyalty programmes or from MBA masterminds, but out of the customer automatically.. if only...

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