All things turn for good: We are so used to pot-holed roads that we travel on them everyday – without raising a voice because of TINA – There Is No Alternative (road, not the girl!) ;-). Same way, I used to travel particular stretch of pot-holed Indian skyways, or so I thought until another occasion to pray-for-dear-life-&-fly-airdeccan came.
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I go to deccan website to book the tickets, I am in for a surprise. Not only the flight timings but also the route is changed. Earlier it was a morning flight going to Vizag via Tirupati, now it’s a afternoon flight going via Hyderabad. Though for a while I thought the BLORE-HYD skyway will not have potholes, I realized the timings don’t suit me. I go to the next option – Research to find TINA – There is New Alternative! ;-)
Aam Aadmi does a Serendipity: I went to travel sites to find other alternate flights to reach Vizag. Behold, I see something – it’s a BLR-Vizag flight. it’s a DIRECT & its CHEAPER & they serve MEALS too. I rub my eyes, pinch my arms, refresh the page - yes its true. Just a while ago, I was in self-pity thinking of going by usual pothole flight, here I am with a Serendi-pity ;-). It’s a Paramount Flight.
Booking-Check-in-g: I wanted to check if flight actually existed, so I called paramount helpline & confirmed. Then made the booking thru the site & printed the tickets. I took time to compare the 2 options- paramount won clearly.
Flight time – 3.5hrs with 1 stop for AD, just 1hr 15min non-stop for Paramount
Cost – almost 12K for AD, below 10K for paramount
Food – AD serves only water, Paramount served full meals
Later I realized Paramount doesn’t take the pot-holed airways !! ;-)
Using their web check-in on site, I checked-in & also window seats in the 17th row ( of total 18). This I chose seats close to the back door. its good to be near exit door if something happens to the plane mid-air! ;-) you can get out first! Later choosing this seat proved beneficial ;-)
Flight: I had seen the Paramount Planes many times & had liked its blue exteriors. Now I get inside to realize its not the same as other ATR planes used by Airdeccan. The brochure told me this was an Embraer make plane. The leg space is large compared to AD flights, so even Sajit can sit without knees touching the seat in front.
Welcome Drink: As u get into the flight, we are served a cup of tender coconut water. I liked not only the idea, but also the drink ;-) felt like asking one more cup, but didn’t do so, as the hostess had given me a ‘special look’ – the reason for which, I knew after a while ;-)
Food: When I chose non-veg meals while booking ticket, I thought they were just doing a survey – bcos low cost airlines hardly gave anything more than 200ml of water ( unlimited though, this also helped those who wanted to see the hostess often ;-) ]. But once hostess came with trolley & I saw she is not taking money, I realized I am not gonna fly hungry. ( having to leave home at 7am, I cud only have 4slices of bread & tea), so the breakfast was god-sent. To say the least, the meal was tasty & sufficient quantity wise too ;-)
In-Flight: they stack up many news papers including regional ones. But the best was their own magazine – ‘Windows & Aisles’ - a perfect in-flight magazine covering not about paramount but also lot of other things. I was pleasantly surprised to see a name – the name sounded familiar – I press the recall button by keeping my finger near by ear – that’s works..i recall its an MSian who was active previously. He was Zahid, who had a contributed a small revu about a gadget.
Why Air-hostesses want to sit next to aam aadmi: Ever since I entered one hostess had been giving me many smiles –each time the smile getting wider. Soon after demo of exercise, the hostess came close to me & sat next to me. I was thinking she was giving me special looks as they don’t fear going near aam aadmis (they are harmless), but realized she was only eyeing the seat ;-)
Feedback & Follow up: As is practice they circulated a feedback form, I did enter few points of concern. There was prompt follow-up to address the points I had mentioned. My feedback was related to frequent flier programs, departure delays (which are easily blamed on delay of incoming flight when plane travels from A to B & then makes B to C trip) & making available local numbers for enquiry & booking. My feedback was acknowledged & answered well.
About Paramount: I read about them in their magazine & also on website. They fly mostly in south-india, but stretching wings country. They have flights from south to all metros & some next-level cities. If you ask me, this is one airline to watch out for in the Indian skies.
Conclusion: I do know pricewise most airlines have similar price for a given route, but in my case Paramount gave me the best. The other option was charging 2000 more & taking 3.5hrs for journey, giving nothing more than water. But Paramount gave me – chance to save 2000Rs, saved more than 2Hrs, gave me lot of pyar – in terms of food & ‘special smiles’ from hostess ( 3 out of 8 times, they sat next to me! I know its due to vacant seat next to me, but wats the harm is feeling good thinking hostess prefer to sit next to aam aadmis :P, bolne mein kya jaata hain, sochne mein kya jaata hain? :P. All in all, Paramount gave me more Pyar, for less amount, in lesser time – so to me its PyarAmount airlines