While some may consider this as a sequel to my earlier review, “Jet Airways – The good, the bad & the ugly, ” posted on January 21, 2008, the fact is that despite my bad experience on that flight, I was still not quite sure whether to love or hate Jet Airways.
Not willing to black-list the airline on the basis of one bad flight, I decided to fly with them once more, this time on the domestic sector – just to determine whether the airline was really taking its passengers for a ride(pun intended), or whether my earlier experience was just “one of a kind.”
The 29th of January saw me taking flight No. 9W 318 from Chandigarh to Mumbai. Although the flight was late by an hour, the ground staff at Chandigarh was at its usual best. Not only helpful in managing my bulky checked-in baggage, they did not even raise an eyebrow when it weighed in at 27 kilograms, 7 kilos above the allowed 20 kilos.
The seats on the Boeing 737-700 were much more comfortable than those on the 737-800 flying on the Delhi-Bangkok sector. I wonder why the airline doesn’t use the -700, with more legroom, on its longer international flights. Maybe they care more about maintaining the “best domestic airline” image more than being a “me-too” in the international aviation scenario!
The lunch served on the flight was good, and sufficient – for a 5-year old! My request to the flight steward for a second helping got a stern “We don’t have any extra food!” response.
And that brings me to my last point – while the hostesses on the flight were very generous with their smiles, albeit plastic, the two male stewards seemed to have misplaced their smiles somewhere. Stiff, stern and stoic, this duo went about their duties as if they were doing the passengers a big favour for letting them fly Jet Airways!
All said and done, I would say that the airline should try to retain its “goody-goody” image in the domestic sector, and forget about making a mark, any mark for that matter, in the international sector!