On the 28th January 2010 we left London Heathrow Airport bound for Mumbai.40 minutes late as the arriving plane was 30 minutes late.Boarding was fine and the 2 window seats were excellent, just as we pre-booked, 8 months before.I must point out at this time that although Kingfisher advertize themselves as a 5star airline they are not.Not on a European departure anyway.They may be a 5 star in India.
The drinks service is not like the majority of other long haul airlines.The drinks are served at the same time as the inflight meal.Not good.Further the drinks are served in a strange way to other airlines. The drink is poured into the glass direct from a bottle and not supplied as a miniature bottle like BA or Emirates for example.The measure is also very small.I had to ask for 2 separate drinks for me and my wife and this took up space on the tray where the meal was about to be served.This also applied to the return trip from Mumbai.They don’t like to give you a large measure unless you ask for it.
The meals ideally cater for the Indian travellers and not the large amount of Europeans that now patronize this airline.On the return trip my wife was told she could only have a Indian meal.She refused as she does not eat Indian food.She was given 2 packets of biscuits and a hastily made bowl of carrots.Upon complaining the stewardess took all of our details and also my Kingclub membership number.I have been a member for 3 years. She advised that we would be contacted by Kingfisher with an apology.It is now almost the end of March and I am still waiting.The return trip took place on the 27th February2010.I feel that the majority of the cabin crew are more interested in the welfare of the Indian travellers and of their own appearance than that of most other travellers.
The internal flights of Mumbai to Goa and return cannot be faulted.In fact the staff at Dabolim airport can only be praised for their help.After we landed at London we were flying on to Newcastle and needed to traverse between terminal 4 & terminal 5 for our departure.With very little time to do it.I advised this to the young man on the check in desk and asked for a priority offload of our luggage in London fully aware that this service was normally reserved for upgrade passengers.As soon as he realised that we were flying on with British Airways he not only offered this service but also suggested that he re-route our luggage at Heathrow to the domestic terminal.We gladly accepted the priority oflfoad but declined the connection for our luggage in case we did not make the flight.I can honestly say that due to this young mans service at Dabolim we caught our connection by 3MINUTES ONLY.This was a 5 star*section of service.Regretably I did not take the name of this young man as I would have had no problem of showing it here in capital letters with a big thank you.
I am prepared to give a little leeway to Kingfisher on the London /Mumbai service as I think they are only just learning about long haul flights, due to the fact they have only been at it for 1 year.Let us hope they can learn and evetually become a worlwide 5*star airline.Due to the tightness of connection we will not be using Kingfisher next time but are going to give Qatar airlines a chance.Michael & Sheila Wood.