Had a terrible flight from Jaipur to Bangalore in Air Costa on 2 Nov 2013. I tried it since it was a new entrant in the aviation sector. I was expecting a nice and refreshing experience for the same reason.
However, it turned out to be a disastrous decision. The ticket could not be booked through their website! After being directed to the Net Banking site and I made my payment, I was redirected to the "Book Now" page of the website. I did not receive any email nor did I get a success/failure message in the website. Had no clue where my money went.
Then I booked it through Cleartrip.com for almost double the amount shown in their website! I wonder whether disabling the booking through website was a conscious decision since they could sell the same at a 100% premium through other websites and still claim to be offering a very low price!! I had to virtually fight with their customer service executives to get my refund. I had to repeat the problem 4-5 times to different executives since they had no process in place to track a customer complaint! No complaint ID, email, follow-up calls...NOTHING!
Moreover, they claim to have a 24/7 customer service desk in their website, which in reality operates only during the day time!
I was already getting to feel let down. On the day of the flight, I was still optimistic that it would be a pleasant experience. I reached the airport couple of hours earlier. Their security check-in did not start on time. Baggage scan happened after I was made to wait for half an hour outside. Once I got through, I had a 6kg excess baggage. I gave my card for payment. They did not have a swiping machine in their desk and i was taken outside to their ticketing counter for payment.
The people there had no clue how to operate the machine. After multiple efforts, they finally got through. When I asked for a receipt, the executive opened a Microsoft Word file, changed the Name, PNR Number, Excess Baggage, Amount etc. and took a print out!! I stood there with my mouth wide opened! How on earth would they track anything when they have such a system? No wonder why things went so bad when I had called their customer service!
Thankfully, the flight arrived on time. This was the first time I was going to fly in an Embrear 170 aircraft. I was expecting a brand new, nice and glossy aircraft. However, it was an old...very old aircraft! It felt as though I was given a used car when I had paid and booked a new one! The military green seats instantly reminded me of old KSRTC buses of Kerala! I entered the flight and saw that someone had already occupied my seat! (doesn’t happen even in a bus these days!) I asked the cabin crew what I was supposed to do.
Flash came his reply: "You can sit anywhere. The flight is vacant anyways." I settled down in a seat ’somewhere’. When I scanned around, the window shield was covered with some slimy fluid which blurred the view outside, the instructions card and food menu was stained with tea/coffee. (I have taken their pictures too!).
The best thing I thought I could do was to close my eyes and stay calm! This would easily be my last journey with Air Costa! I do understand that there could be a few minor glitches here and there since its a new entrant in the market. However, their attitude even in this early stages tells a lot about in which direction the company would be headed to. I had my fair share of unpleasant experience. Hope you make an informed decision when you plan your air-journey next time!