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justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

This is my first trip on board India's first LCC - Air Deccan ( DN ) . Had heard a lot of horror stories from pax who had flown DN and was wary abt their lack of service and punctuality. So for long had avoided them like plague.

However in last November, whn my office released their annual holiday calendar for 2007, i immediately checked up all online booking sites for tickets around long weekend. And lo n behold for the weekend of March 17-19 , DN has seats avlbl for just INR 3 one way!! Thts like around USD 0.07!!! Well plus taxes it wud come up to 1003 INR (22 USD) . Now this offer was way good to be rejected. So i went had and booked a return trip which cost me 2006 INR (44 USD).

1 week before the trip, i decided to check if my booking was still valid (given DN dis-repute). Their original site (www.airdeccan.net) was down and I was redirected to their stand by site (www.flyairdeccan.net) . This site did not have any option for searching via PNR number!! Boy .. added to tht the info tht they were migrating to a new Passenger reservation system.

So i tried their Support center. The first day I spent around 45 mins listening to a recording tell me how important my call was!! the next day after abt 20 mins i got to speak to smone and luckily my reservation was till on!!

Sector: BLR - TRV
Flight: DN 143
A/C : ATR 72-500
Reg: VT-D**
Load : 60%
STD : 1835
ATD: 1920
STA : 2005
ATA :2050

Knowing how often DN denies boarding to pax who dont turn up at the head of the check in line 30 mins b4 boarding, i was at the airport , well in time. Luckily there was no queue at the baggae scan area.

Proceeded to the check in area. I guess DN is the only airline, which has dedicated check in counters for each sector. The queue for the TRV flight was not much. The check in agent was no gr8 hoots. Did a very mechanical job. Frankly the DN ground staff need to upgrade their uniforms or atleast send it to laundry on a regular basis!!

DN check in area at BLR

My Boarding pass. No seats allotted. DN follows a free seating policy

Cleared Security and moved airside.

9W flight to HYD n CCU on BLR tarmac

A perfect freebie to be distributed, right before people board a flight!! Wink

Boarding was supposed to start at 1820, but tht time came n went and no anouncements. The DN counters were empty as they had no other flights gng out then. Found a DN guy, who informed tht the incoming flight frm IXE was delayed and hence the TRV flight would be delayed and would leave at 1900. However the flight finally took off at 1920.

The delay was never announced and information was very hard to come by. Probably this is one of the biggest reasons why people are frustrated with LCCs in India. Lack of Information frm the Airline folks.

We were bussed to the A/C in Apron 3. It was a ATR 72 and was barely half full. I was among the last to board and still got a window seat in front.

Seat Pitch

Seat recline

There were two F/As on this flight. Clearly English was not their forte and most announcements ended up pretty slurred. The safety demo was very vague. it also included - " You hv a safety card in ur seat pocket. Just read it!!!" have never heard tht one b4!!

Since most folks in Kerala hv been on an a/c b4 (mostly on a flight to Mid East) there were no first timers on board.

Immediately after reaching cruising altitude, the inflight service was started. In DN nothing is for free!! Even water has to be purchased. I opted for a can of Pepsi and a veg sandwich, which came upto INR 80 (roughly 2 USD). But you wud get the same for half tht price outside!!

The crew did manage to sell quite a few stuff on board

Snax bought on board - Pepsi n Sandwiches

The crew came around coupla times to clear trash. i asked for a glass to pur the pepsi in and one of the F/As got me a Cafe Coffee Day glass. Tht was good service.

Decided to visit the loo and turns out, the door would not shut fully!!! :O .. neways i was in for the shorter version and didnt hv a prob with tht.

The basin in the loo

Descending into TRV we faced some real bad turbulence.. the kind whr u get tht queasy feeling of ur stomach being pulled violently down. The last time i experienced this was on an IC 737 way back in 1992!!

The A/C while deplaning.

As i deplaned I realized, tht the seats were real filthy. No head cover placed on any of the seats either!!

I was the last to deplane and was surprised to find the pax bound for BLR already at the ladder. No cleaning of the a/c or nething!! It almost felt like jostling to get out of a bus or a train!!

The A/C was parked close to the terminal and we had to walk down to the arrival section. In more ways than one, this felt like the air trips tht I undertook as a child in IC !! Wink

DN ATR after deplaning at TRV.. walking towards the arrival section

Sector: TRV - BLR
Flight: DN 144
A/C : ATR 42-500
Reg: VT-ADM
Load : 100%
STD : 2030
ATD: 2150
STA : 2025
ATA : 2145

The return leg was full of surprises.. of the pleasant variety!! Wink

The check in and security procedure in TRV was a breeze. Since the flights out of TRV are widely spaced out, there is never a dearth of psace in there.

New check in counters have been added in TRV for IT, DN and I7.

The IT flight to BLR was scheduled to depart b4 our flight. I had written a TR abt tht flight which u can read @ http://www.airliners.net/discussions/trip_reports/read.main/94307/

After security, moved to spacious waiting area in TRV. Spotted the IT ATR-72 on the tarmac which was getting ready to leave at 2015 to BLR. It was soon joined by a UL A320. Soon IT announced boarding for pax from Row 1 to Row 10. Still no sight of the DN a/c

At 2005, the arrival of the incoming DN flight is announced and in no time we get our boarding. The DN flight is parked right next to the terminal, while the IT pax were being bussed to the remote bay.

It was an Atr 42 and was fully packed.

DN ATR 42-500 VT-ADM ex - Air Tahiti (co-incidentally with the IATA code of VT!!)

Crew seats upfront

Simplibid - DN 's inflight auction. Top 6 bidders for each product can get items for their prices. The chances of u being one of them in a 40 seater flight.. well u do the math!!

There was just a single F/A on board this flight and she did the safety instructions , single handedly. Its funny whn u do not hear tht coming out of a PA system!! Wink

The seat pitch in the ATR 42

At 2020 we began taxi-ing to the runway, while IT ATR was still boarding. talk abt turn around time!!! less than 15 mins on ground!! impressive.

This flight was a whole lot more stable thn the inbound one. After hving tasted a stale sandwich and a tepid can of pepsi, i just got a bottle of water on this leg.

Managed to catch sm sleep on this leg. We touched down abt 5 mins b4 time!! Coming from DN tht is a big big surprise!!

While deplaning, seats on the ATR-42 , much better than the ones on the ATR-72

The a/c ofcourse was shwoing its age, after hving flown in the pacific region with VT .

Seat numbers - on a paper stuck with cellophene

Once we deboarded on the remotest of remote bays in BLR, we realized that there were no buses waiting to ferry us. We waited almost 15 mins watching planes take off n land (including the IT ATR frm TRV, which took off after us) . Totally negated the 5 mins before time landing!! Sad

Pax waiting for a bus on the apron

BLR being a defence airport, u wud think security wud be tight!! But there were hardly any DN ground crew around and people were wanering all over the place!!

Finally we were bussed to the terminal where we waited another 20 mins for our baggage to arrive!!

With this I have travelled on all the Air carriers flying on the BLR - TRV - BLR sector. My personal rating:

All in descending order of preference
Overall - 9W , IT , IC , DN
Ground staff - 9W , IT , DN , IC
In flight service - 9W , IT , DN , IC
Inflight catering - 9W , IC , IT , DN
Air Craft - IT , 9W , DN , IC
Timing - DN , IT , 9W , IC
Punctuality - 9W , DN , IT , IC - solely from my experience!! Smile

HAWK21M

Nimish · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject:

Great report - you're getting quite good at writing them. And pictures always helps a lot...

Glad you had a good flight to TRV and back on the long holiday weekend. The alternatives (bus/train) are simply a nightmare.

the_380 · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:38 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Nice TR mate. You seem to be doing a lot of flying lately, and you have the patience and the will to write a TR for most of your flights. I am just too lazy to write any. Laughing

Cheers
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himmat01 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: DEL

Great report Bala. Enjoyed going through them.

I liked your idea of booking flights on basis of the holiday list well in advance was great. I'll give it a try on my next flight to BOM.
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Birendra · Member Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 1411

U survived Air Deccan.

The question here is......would u suggest Air Deccan to fellow ainutters here Twisted Evil

karatecatman · Guest

You deserve a medal for choosing Air Deccan.

But I have a serious problem with your constant downrating of IA in almost every department:wink: Wink

, especially aircraft. IA rates below DN Shocked

Same cordruoy trousers for up and down trips? No offence meant. Wink

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

Nice TR.

Looking for flights on the same leg myself. Am trying to screw enough courage together to try DN.
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TKMCE · Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Posts: 957

You forgot to add that you will be lucky to get any fare below Rs 2000 on the other three airlines on this route. And being a frequent flyer , I am sure you will remember that until Feb 2006 when Air Deccan started services on the BLR TRV route (Jet started at the same time), there was only Indian Airlines operating one incovenient flight leaving at 12 Noon (they still do) operating BLR COK TRV BLR and this was one of the few routes Indian airlines had no discounted fares until then and was charging 6000+ for their economy class ( of course - lunch included!). I remember (I flew DN on the second day of their service) that Indian Airlines immediately crashed the fare to 1800.

Also while a lot of people like you may be able to afford full service fares, for a lot of other people in TRV,DN gave them their chance to fly for the first time ( unlike what you mentioned there are still a large number of people in Kerala who have never been in the Middle East and for whom flying still remains a dream). DN still remains the only LCC out of TRV,

I for one am not complaining, I have spent a lot of 16 hour day nighters on buses between MAA/BLR and TRV trying to squeeze in a few precious days at home on long weekends. Now DN gives me an affordable alternative.

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Good clean crips TR....Like it very much.

Sri_bom

himmat01 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: DEL

I agree with TKMCE. DN has given an affordable option to a lot of Indians who would never have dreamt of flying during the duopoly days of 9W and IC.
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HAWK21M · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:05 pm Post subject:

Its True AD has provided an option to the common man to Fly as an option which was never possible earier due costs.

The Airline has to employ personell on lower than normal salaries & compromise on certain non safety related issues like cleanliness post flight.

But its upto the Individuals flying these LCCs to understand that they too need to treat these Aircraft with concern,which is not always the case due a mental block present that its not mine so who cares attitute.

regds
MEL
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VABBy · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 823 Location: DEL

Nice TR

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