The very first look at the product review page shows so many negative remarks for Air Deccan and this made me raise a voice because I personally dont believe that Air Deccan is that bad.
My family & me are frequent fliers on Kolkata-Hyderabad-Kolkata route. And in the past three years we have used the services of Jet, Sahara, Kingfisher and also Air Deccan.
When we pay around 5.5K(Kingfisher), or around 8K(Jet & Sahara) its quite natural for us to expect that-
-We would be kept informed about the flight schedule via phone calls or sms.
-Our lugguage trolleys would be taken care of by the attendants at the entry door itself
-We would have attendants leading us to the baggage screening, security checks & check-in counters
-We would be offered good food(free of cost -* u actually had paid
for it when u bought the ticket and might have not realised that u have
spent a day’s salary for a modest meal)
Air Deccan being the lowest fare service doesnt offer too many facilities like ground-attendants, free meals, etc. But the least expected is punctuality or atleast to keep the customers informed about the delays through phone calls or sms’.
The last time I flew on an Air Deccan was in August 2006 and the ticket price then was around 2.8K. I reached DumDum and the flight was late by 3hrs. My Mistake? I had not called these guys to check with the schedule before going to the airport. Being used to the luxaries of receiving a call or an sms for any delays, I didnt find it important to call these guys.
The result was I had to keep waiting along with a crowd of desparate and angry people. Most of these guys seemed to be first time fliers because of the way they were behaving. The flight was not yet announced but yet there was a huge crowd pushing one another at the door. Then finally after 3hours it was announced that we need to move through the door which is in the ground floor. The mob impatiently ran down the elevator! In the flight I noticed a few guys having shingara(samosas) and throwing the waste(hari mirchi) on the floor, one was fiddling with the reading lamps, one with the seat cover, another took a memorabilia from the aircraft(the name-plate which reads fasten your seat belts)! Some greats were not interested to listen to the air hostess’ regarding mobiles or seat belts, etc. We had to buy food and then you get to see the real filth -used tissue papers on the floor, people wiping their hands off onto the seat covers, etc. However the in-flights attendants were still very courteous(the way you expect an air hostess to be) and were dutifully doing their jobs. The most idiotic though was this middle-aged buffoon who opened his arms wide & asked the air hostess to fasten his seat belt, when she told him to secure the seat belt as we were about to land.
After this experience I felt Air Deccan is a no-no for me. But on second thoughts I realised that it was my idea to take an Air Deccan flight as its much cheaper to others. The cheaper the price, minus the amenities like ground attendants, free meals, etc. Afterall the costs on these are cut so that the tickets are offered at such lower prices. As for the cleaniness is concerned, when most of the customers behave like commuters in local trains, so unruly and rustic; to what extent would the Airlines go to keep the aircraft clean? They would probably stop the airlines business and start the aircraft cleaning business.Therefore I feel that the passengers should help these guys serve better.(This reminds me of SRK’s clean Mumbai-clean home ad)
Air Deccan is not pathetic but still one thing thats really bad is that they never bother to contact you in case of any delays.
*Plz check the current rates