I’m comparing the Red House with the Blue House. Not in school but in skies. Kingfisher vs Jet. The great match despite the handshakes by Mr Mallaya & Mr Goyal on collaboration.
I’ve traveled Kingfisher jets on 4 legs and ATR on 1, while I’ve traveled Jet on many legs.
Kingfisher truly represents their red color in their flashy and snazzy way of doing things. As you proceed towards the check-in, red-clad ladies welcome you with flashy smile, delighted to see you. The experience continues as you board, on the footsteps and on the doorway. On sitting the video comes on and Mr Mallaya delivers a welcome speech assuring you to be the guests in his home. The model like hostesses play the host for Mr Mallaya, serving you with flashy smiles. Jet Airways in contrast is very professional and efficient. The staff would give the right amount of smile for the right amount of time and then attend to your issues with focused attention. But you have a feeling of efficiency all around.
Aboard the Kingfisher jet, the on-time record may not be an issue to talk about (which no airline can boast today esp. on Metros), but the overall experience is quite delightful. A red Welcome kit was presented, which contains a red pair of headphones and a characteristic red ball pen, along with menu card etc. However ATR had only the pen, as there was no channel video or music.
The rote like statutory training is imparted by none other than ace model Yana Gupta on the video. What a simple solution to save those pretty souls from doing the PT. Saw the same on Air France. However on ATR, there was no video so the drill was also executed by the stewardesses.
Little things kept happening which made the Kingfisher experience memorable. However, an unforgettable experience happened while we were in the plane between our 2 legs from Jaipur to Hyderabad, at Mumbai. After the disembarking of the Mumbai passengers, we were about 20 persons in the plane when we were suddenly attacked by the unforeseen forces of Security and Cleaners. I even had the toilet door forced open with my pants down, that too by a lady stewardess, in severe awe of the security. NOVA men would clean up even the personal effects on the seat & seat pocket into their large trash bag, never to be found again, if you are not on your seat. There was no mechanism of telling them which seats were occupied. They have a task to finish in 20 minutes & nothing should come in their way. Security was quite civilized, but to have a toilet door forced open is something only "Kingfisher experience" can offer.
Immediately upon my return, I sent a mail to Dr Mallaya. As promised by him I got a prompt reply by him, advising me that he had instructed for in-transit passengers to be taken to one side of the plane while cleaners do the job. Nothing could be better than such immediate corrective action on a customer’s feedback. I received phone calls on my feedback, which made me feel these people really care. Definitely look forward to board more often if the timings are right on my sectors.