I used to be an extremely satisfied customer of SpiceJet and have in the past recommended it to my friends. In fact this is the only low cost airline I’ve ever flown as I never had a reason to look elsewhere.
All this changed on a Delhi-Goa-Delhi flight that I took in Sept 2007(Delhi-Goa SG257, 8th Sept / Goa-Delhi SG256, 15th Sept)
Check-in: I had paid an extra Rs50 to reserve an aisle seat but the attendant at the counter in Delhi completely disregarded it until I pointed it out to her.
On Board: Boarding for the 4:50PM flight started promptly at 4:10PM and I was in the aircraft shortly thereafter. I’ve always been impressed with the quality of aircraft and clean interiors of SpiceJet. It was pretty much the same but for a small difference that was to prove to be quite a nightmare in a short while.the air-conditioning in the aircraft was no functioning. As the aircraft filled up the heat inside started to make life miserable. There was NO announcement from the cabin crew regarding the reason for this malfunction. When asked by some passengers the cabin crew did answer to those individuals(still no announcement on the PA system). Word got around that the GPU was not working(yes the crew used the acronym instead of saying Ground Power Unit while addressing passengers - like everyone should know what that means).
The August heat of Delhi was unrelenting and the nervousness of passengers coupled with the sweat were only helping the situation spiral downwards even further. And there was still no announcement on the PA system. I overheard one of the flight attendants telling a passenger that the air-conditioning would get fixed when the captain arrived.what a joke! and for the records, the arrival of the captain did not solve the issue. Granted that all this while maintenance crews, the pilots etc. were working to fix the problem, but in the absence of any information or reassuring message the passengers were getting frantic. The cabin crew did not even have the presence of mind to serve water to the dehydrating passengers. I had to ask 3 times before they served water to my mother who was traveling with me. The poor woman was very nervous because the question that was bothering her was "is this plane safe to fly in?”
The plane taxi-ed onto the runway for takeoff - still no airconditioning. Some people demeaned that the plane not be allowed to fly but thankfully there was no mutiny on board. The plane took off and once airborne the main engines powered the generators to get the aircon going.
I must say that the passengers showed remarkable restraint in not going beyond verbal complaints. I had expected some people to demand that the aircon be fixed before take off, and feared that some passengers would get physical!
I’m sure that if the cabin crew had kept passengers informed via announcements on the PA we would have felt a lot more comfortable. Instead, flight attendants retorted to complaining passengers with "what more can I do? We are doing our best". Well, in such situation those sorts of answers do nothing to calm nerves.
It was quite clear to me that SpiceJet is a good airline only as long as nothing went wrong. The moment and unexpected situation arises the employees just do not have a clue how to handle it. I’m OK with not being served food on a low-cost airline - that is something I agree to when I purchase the ticket, but I would definitely not want that the people entrusted with my safety and comfort, namely the cabin crew, are not well trained.
The airline knew about the aircon snag well before boarding passengers - they could have boarded the plane 10 minutes later and ensured that they took off on time instead of keeping the passengers on board for over an hour, getting delayed and then deciding to take off and let the main engines do the work! It would have at least minimised our misery.
On the way back:
At Goa airport my checked in baggage weighed 24kgs - I was asked to pay excess baggage fee of Rs400/-. Surely the airline could have made a token gesture of giving me grace of a couple of kilos - I wouldn’t mind paying after that. But No! "Against company policy" said the man at the check-in counter despite me telling him that I am a frequent flier.
To make matters worse, at the point I was exiting the terminal to board the aircraft, where the security personnel check that carry-on baggage bears the stamp of clearance from the x-ray scanners, a SpiceJet ground staff member rather rudely lifted the backpack that I was carrying to check its weight WITHOUT ASKING FOR MY PERMISSION! That is a clear case of lack of manners let alone being highly unprofessional behaviour! Fortunately for me(yes me) I was busy trying to locate the baggage tag to show the cop while this was happening or else I would have completely lost my temper and would have embarrassed myself with the outburst that would have inevitably followed.
My story seems to have taken quite a few turns, so let me summarise:
I still believe that SpiceJet can be a good airline but it clearly has some way to go before it can completely win me over.
They cannot assume that price alone will compel passenger to fly with them - they should at least make sure that they get ALL THE BASICS right, because basic is all that they offer. The devil is in the simple details.
I’m not going to say that you should not fly this airline. That is your call to take. I may still fly with them. But it is for sure that I will never fly SpiceJet exclusively. If they treat us like cattle then there is no reason for me to place my loyalties with them.