…suck big time. You spend hundreds of dollars of your hard-earned money to get from point A to point B by air. The duration of the flight is 5-6 hours. You take two such flights to reach your final destination, and no food is served on either! NONE! Sure they ‘sell’ you food on the flight, but there is nothing really worth eating for a vegetarian! Sure they bring out the ‘complimentary beverage cart’ out a few times but how much cola/sprite/coffee/tea can you drink in 5 hours? Add to that the fact that you now have to pay if you want to check in bags, and that they don’t offer you brand new blankets and new headphones anymore, and you have one joy ride!
Contrast that with the Indian flying experience. You have the option of paying for tickets on an airline that actually serves food. Some, like Kingfisher provide you with real, steel cutlery to eat with. I remember my first ever flight was from Hyderabad to Tirupathi, a grand total of 40 minutes in the air, and the air hostesses scrambled to get us our food as soon as the plane took off. We ate, the trash was collected, tray tables stowed and it was time to land. Very smooth! On my last India trip I flew on Kingfisher, Air India and Spicejet and my experience with all of them was pleasant, even enjoyable. Spice Jet is a low-cost airline and they did not provide food, but the air hostesses and stewards smiled, and behaved like they liked to have us on board. Not like the snobbish air hostesses and stewards on American planes who give you a smile-while-looking-in-another-direction treatment. I am now certain that the airline experience in the land of atithi devo bhava is supremely better than in the land of the free!
PS: Here is a fine post that talks about a good experience on Air India flights.
My experience on an Air India flight wasn’t that great…there were a couple of cockroaches scrambling around my chair and it kept me alert throughout the flight….lol.
As for the air hostess’ treatment of passengers in USA, I think they don’t give extra special attention to them because flying is a common man’s mean here, unlike India, where it is a luxury.
I often find I get treated differently in India because I’m from “amreeka” and thus must be rich ::rolling my eyes::
Ugh cockroaches? Thats disgusting! Even if it is common, don’t you think they should atleast be more courteous considering that airline tickets aren’t exactly cheap? My experience across the board in India has been good, even when I worked there, when I still didnt have the amreeka vibe…hehe.
I agree with you…Even if flying is common, the cabin crew needs to be courteous just like salesmen in shops need to…I too hate American airlines for the same reasons you have stated…
True….I pay a bucketload on tickets to visit my brother for a week-end in Houston. I always end up thinking of what all I could have done(tons, if you think about it!) with the money instead.
Too bad about your awful flying experience. Do they really charge you for checked in baggage? I think indian carriers are going to go down that road soon! Its interesting you say that air travel is more passenger friendly in India. I suppose its a matter of experience. Mine has been varied.
Generally bored or rude demeanour is what I see among the crew of Air India. Especially with working class people who travel Hyd – Kuwait or Chennai – Singapore / Malaysia sectors. Do not want to help you with your things.
On the other hand, if there is a medical emergency, then Air India is your best choice. Many people I know swear by the care and treatment they received when they flew their father / mother/ uncle/relative under emergency conditions. If you’re stranded anywhere – again Air India is your airline-of-the-hour. And people I know also swear by this!
Personally, I like the customer care given by Jet airways and Paramount.
International travel – what little I’ve done of it – I enjoyed traveling by Singapore Airlines and JAL. Air Canada – now that was not a pleasant experience.
Yes they have started charging for checkin baggage thanks to bogus claims of high fuel prices and depletion of profits. I used to fly extensively when I worked in India, way back in 2003-2004, almost twice a month. And all my experiences have been amazing. Good food, only slightly grumpy namastes, atleast I got bang for my buck. Here, percentage wise we spend similar amounts on air travel, but still only get bus/railway service!
The one international airline I absolutely loved was emirates, again very pleasant crew, and real cutlery with food! The worst has been united airlines.
awwwww i would say flights suck thats it
I would prefer apna rail ka dibba any day, with the yummy train food.
My favourite airline is Jet. I like that they have eye candy (ie- cute male stewards) for the ladies too and of course, awesome food and those hot towel things. But yeah, even the low cost airlines in India are decent, and you can buy yummy samosas… clearly I love me some airline food. Air India – I had a nightmare time with their customer service in HK, they basically do not pick up the phone and their office address has changed but was not updated on their website. But on the flight itself I thought they were decent. I’m not a big one for smiles and namastes, but I like a response when something is needed, like say water. Air India tends to have a very homey approach – for water I was told, i could get it any time myself from the pantry and I was fine with that, prefered it in fact to having to flag down someone’s attention.
uh oh i thought we had it bad here, but now i feel better 😛 thanks
Believe me, it is wayyyyy better in apna desh.
I flew on SouthWest airlines last time I was in US. It’s pretty good. They didn’t charge me for my baggage at all. I think they charge only if you exceed the 50 pound limit.
Yes currently southwest is the only airline that doesn’t charge bag checkin fee. But southwest doesn’t fly everywhere 😦