Recently, I had a chance to fly by Air Deccan from Delhi to Bangalore. The ticket price was Rs.5400 /-. The day, that I flew, was a Friday and I did not get tickets in any airline (other than Spice Jet) for a price below Rs.5400. I did not choose Spice Jet, even though the ticket was only Rs.3100/-, because its timings did not fit into my schedule.
My flight was at 8:10 PM and I reached the Delhi airport at 6.30 PM. The lady at the check-in counter was polite. I was actually surprised when she asked me if I had any seating preferences. This is because, one of my friends who had travelled in Air Deccan earlier, told me that there is nothing like seat preference or allocation. Nowadays they allocate seats on a first come first served basis.
I had read some horror stories about Air Deccan timings viz., delayed flights, cancelled flights etc but my flight took off on time and the travel was smooth. However the legroom was very less and it was a bit uncomfortable. This is because, Air Deccan’s Airbus 320 flights have been configured to seat 180 passengers instead of the usual 150 for other airlines. They have done this, to accommodate more people per flight so as to bring down the cost.
There were some paid in-flight snacks (Veg Sandwich) and I did not try them.
The flight was 10 minutes late at the Bangalore Airport.
Overall the experience was OK. I may fly with them again in the future depending on my schedule and budget.