It’s nice to be back in MS after a long lay off.This is the 126th review about Indian airlines in MS, where in this review I’ll try to compare IC to "Air Arabia", the other airline service I used to travel between the same routes (the comparison is given in the brackets). And I feel this would be helpful for those who work/live in the UAE and travel frequently to India.
Ok, let me start with ticketing. I currently work in the UAE, had to travel to my native Chennai, to celebrate my son’s first birthday and bring my spouse and son, to UAE on my return. For the trip from Sharjah (UAE) to Chennai, I booked my tickets in Air Arabia and the return ticket from Chennai to Dubai by Indian Airlines. The tickets for my spouse and son were paid by my company, and were booked in IC, so I also booked my ticket in the same flight IC 905 through my office’s travel desk.
The cost of the one way trip from Chennai to Dubai was 1, 130 dhirams (Air Arabia charged 515 Dhirams only, the only difference is that you have to buy the food on board if you want), which is not cheap by any means. The same day the ticket from Chennai to Dubai in Emirates was only 1, 242 dhirams and in Thai airways, it was 1030 dhirams. Therefore, IC by no means is a low cost airline. Hence I expected the same quality of service from IC.
The flight from Chennai was at 8 PM. All my friends who have previously flown by IC, warned me to check the time before I leave home, because of ICs reputation in keeping up their punctuality. So I called up the toll free number and was told that the flight is running to time. I was happy to hear that and planning to surprise my colleagues, by saying “my Indian airlines flight was on-time yesterday”. But IC had other ideas!!!
I left to the airport with my family, well in advance, to avoid any delays due to traffic jam etc and reached the airport around 5.15pm. The display board was showing that my flight was scheduled for departure on time. So we proceeded to the check-in counter and completed our check-in fairly easily since we had no problem with excess luggage etc. The staff at the check in counter was very helpful and she allocated us the bassinet upon request. But the point here is IC permits only 20kgs as check-in and 10kgs as hand baggage (in air Arabia, its 30kgs + 7kgs, a net difference of at least 7kgs), which I feel is the lowest baggage allowance.
As soon as we finished the check in, the display board showed 20:30 as expected departure time against IC905! Phew….. The worst part was that there were absolutely no announcements made to bring this to our attention. May be they thought 30 minutes is not a big deal. Of course, 30 minutes delay in an air travel is not a big deal. But the worst thing is even at 8.20pm, when we were waiting in the lounge, the board was still showing expected departure as 8.30, but still there were no news about the departure Gate and no call for boarding. At last, at about 8.45 pm there was an announcement saying that IC905 is now ready for boarding and the board was now showing expected departure as 9pm.
Upon boarding the flight, we were given a warm welcome by the attendants. It was an A-320 with 3 + 3 seats either side. The leg space was quite decent. The ambience was decent. The flight was only 25% occupied. Even after 9 Pm, we saw no signs of take off. When I enquired, I was told that they were waiting the crew of Delhi-Chennai, Indian airlines flight (which again was delayed in Delhi). We were served fruit juice (“Jumpin Apple”). But there was no variety; you have to drink what they offer. At last, after almost 1 hour and 40 minutes, we took off at around 9.40 pm. (I have traveled in air Arabia 4 times so far, and every time the take off was on time). The take off was very smooth.
After a short while, they served drinks. They were very generous with the quantity of the drinks being served (may be because the flight was only 25% filled) and I should say that the cabin crew were really pleasant and helpful! They provided the bassinet for my son and gave some extra pillows to be kept under the lap when my wife was feeding him. So there were no regrets on that.
The food was served at around 11 pm (not the best time for your dinner). The quality and the taste were very nice. (In air Arabia, there are no complimentary drinks or food; you have to buy it on board, if you want, which are reasonably priced, so the difference of 500 dhirams in the price of the ticket cannot be justified).
My son found the bassinet to be little cramped (of course I can’t complain about this, because he’s taller than a normal 1 year old kid). Because the flight was empty, we moved to the third row which was not occupied and pushed the arm rest aside to make a bed for my son. It was nice and comfortable for him and he slept during the rest of the flight.
Inside the flight, there were no TVs or on board entertainment, just a news paper in the front pouch of the seat. The worst part was that there were no air sickness bags available!!!??!! The push back in some of the seats I tried, were not working and I could notice many of the seats arm rest having plasters to cover up something. No tissue roll in the toilet and the flush button was broken, so they have again put a plaster on top of it and written “Flush” using a pen.
The pilot never bothered to make any announcement as they normally do in other flights. It was only from the cabin crew the announcements came and it was not very well narrated in English, when compared to its Hindi version.
The landing was very smooth and to my surprise there was no “Ear pain” felt by my wife and my son, though it was small flight.
Overall, I felt that the trip was not too bad as I had no major incidents. But their commitment towards the punctuality and maintenance of the aircraft can be vastly improved. I felt IC too costly for the quality of the service it provides.
Out of the two airlines, IC and Air Arabia, I would always prefer the second one and yes Indian airlines will be my last choice henceforth.
Hope the review was informative. Please read and comment.
Thank you.