My wife and I were flying back Air Deccan, Chennai to Mumbai on 10th Dec, 2006 by the 6.00pm flight. At around 2pm, we get an SMS that the flight is postponed to 7.00pm. So far, so good.
We get to the airport at 5pm and the lines at the check in counter are crazy. After standing in the live for an hour and fifteen minutes, I get the boarding pass. Then past security, we wait, and wait, and wait... all Air Deccan flights are running late... to Delhi, Cochin, Bangalore, and Mumbai. The other airlines (Jet, Paramount, IA, Kingfisher, GoAir) are all flying as per schedule, except Air Deccan.
First a huge ruckus was created by the passengers flying to Delhi... we flying to Mumbai were told that the flight was now delayed and the ETD was 10.40pm.... One Air Deccan employee even went to so far to say that Air Deccan flights being delayed was a regular feature. Were we supposed to feel better that it was not only us who were being subject to such treatment?
Then was the Air Deccan masterstroke. All ground staff disappeared and were nowhere to be found. Rather than face irate passengers, they preferred to make themselves scarce. Now, there is almost nothing in the waiting area at Chennai airport. For a bottle of water we has to get our boarding pass ripped up, go to the check in area, buy the water, get a fresh check in pass, go through security again... so much so that the security staff were getting irritated.
Then at 8.05pm, we get an SMS saying that the flight was rescheduled to 1.00 am... a delay of a full 7 hours. Still no staff to be seen anywhere. At 9.25pm, we get another SMS that the flight would now take off at 1.30 am... and still no one from Air Deccan to be found.
The flight finally took off at 1.45am, and we got home at 4.30 am... later by 8 hours!! I know Air Deccan is a no frills aircraft, but isnt customer service an intergral part of the service industry? We dont expect a hotel room, or a lavish spread... all we are asking for is information on why the flight is late, and when can be expect to get home. If that is something that Air Deccan cannot handle, well, all I can say is fly the other airlines. AIr Deccan sucks... even for a low cost airline.