This summer we flew to Delhi from London Heathrow with Virgin Atlanctic and it was a truly pleasurable experience. However from Delhi we had a connecting flight to Ranchi on Air Sahara. To start off the flight was delayed by 30 mins but no one had the courtesy to announce the delay. The boarded our flight and since we were sleep depreived from flying all night, we dozed off.
To our alarm when I woke up 20 minutes later our plane was still circling the runway as it had been unable to take off. So we came back to point one, the in flight crew were most unhelpful about telling us what was going to happen next. I had to hungry, cranky and tired kids with me and the Delhi heat was bothering them. We were served lunch and told that we would have to get off this plane and board another Sahara India plane. So off we went and I was dragging my two grumpy kids and two pieced of hand luggage and wishing like Ma Durga I had ten arm so that I could multitask more effectively. Just as we were beginning to get comfortable on our second attempt at take off, it turned out that this aerocraft was unable to fly as it was experiencing similar technical difficulties!! My kids were not amused any longer, they kept looking at me with angry eyes as it all this discomfort was my fault! So we had to get off this second plane and board a bus parked on the runway. What was most inconsiderate that at no point did the Sahara India Crew inform us about what was going to happen next and offer us any alternatives.
At this point a young girl travelling from Canada started to cry, she felt nervous to fly in a airline which was so technically buggered ! Anyway 3 hours later we were asked to board the second airline again and this time it finally took off!! I was hoping to join my Mum in Ranchi for an afternoon cup off tea but now we were going arrive at dinner time. When we reached Ranchi, the heavens opened up, but we didn’t care. We just rushed out of the plane, and ran for shelter......we had finally got to Ranchi by the skin of our teeth!!
While in Ranchi, I phoned the Jet Lite office to complain but I was reassured very kindly that Sahara Indian flights are always delayed and even cancelled on short notice. That means that people have come to expect such inferior quality of service from Sahara India that one just has to grin and bear it!
Well there is still our return journey from Ranchi to Delhi to write about but I’ll save that for another day!